Frost
by bearhow
Summary: The Titans are rudely taken out of their R&R when Mad Mod begins causing trouble. With two new faces it should be a breeze to deal with him right? Somethings different about him though. Now Mad Mod is playing for keeps.
1. Jacqueline

**Taking a quick break from my book I thought I'd get started on the next story following the awesomeness of Marker. It's a bit of a shorter chapter but one that I hope you guys will enjoy, especially with the introduction of the mysterious Jacqueline, Drake's daughter. How will this family reunion go? Let's find out.**

 **You know the drill. On with the show.**

 **Chapter 1: Jacqueline**

 **Two hours ago**

Metal clashed and sparks flew as the lessons taught from the Amazons and the training of a hardened assassin pushed against one another. The pair separated, Donna swinging her sword in a flourish as Rose swung around her duel blades, accepting the challenge. With a battle cry, the Amazon charged, throwing her blade on top of a block Rose placed upward with one of her swords. Swords given to her by her father and created with metal forged in Hell.

The two continued their duel, the skills they've been taught not quite enough to best the other, but gave their audience of one, Terra, some enjoyment, at least at first. After fifteen minutes of sitting back and watching them sword fight, she was beginning to get bored.

By the twenty minute mark she had had enough. With golden eyes she threw up a barrier of earth separating the two, and to her amazement, they both just now seemed to be breathing hard.

"What ...was that...about?" Rose asked between breaths.

Terra clicked her tongue. "Seriously? You two have been at this forever?"

"Please," Donna moved her sweat stained dark hair from her eyes, "that was a mere warmup."

"You can say that again sister." Rose got into a fighters stance, intent on continuing the duel.

Donna gripped the handle of her sword. "Terra, please lower the barrier."

Terra rolled her eyes and waved her hand, causing the mound of earth to vanish, and starting round two. Terra decided to leave the two be and went to retrieve her belongings.

With Jump City being quiet, the three decided to make use of the gym equipment for some training. However it quickly became a sword fighting match between Donna Troy, warrior Amazon, and Rose Wilson, assassin trained by her father, Slade.

A chill ran up her spine at the very thought of his name and she quickly repeated a mantra to herself. One Raven, surprisingly, helped her come up with.

"He's dead. I am my own woman now. I don't have to be afraid." She repeated the words a few times until she felt herself become calm once more. She was hesitant to come to Jump City at first, afraid she wouldn't be able to separate Rose from Slade. Watching her fight, Terra was instantly taken back to those times when he had trained her. She knew all the moves, and the look of sheer determination on Roses face, where failure wasn't an option.

It was the same lessons drilled into her so long ago.

Why did she come here then?

" _It will be healing for you, Terra."_ Raven said over the phone. " _You'll see that Rose isn't like her father, and you can face your own demon head on."_

Terra once again repeated her mantra. When Robin ordered her and Donna to assist Rose she wasn't sure she'd be able to, and wasn't until a phone call to Raven in San Francisco that she had at least some courage to face it.

She breathed again, feeling the shiver up her spine again, only this time it stretched across her entire body.

She shook from the unexpected cold. "Holy cow. Who turned the air on?" Glancing down at the uniforms she also noticed Rose's discarded communicator. They had all thrown aside their uniforms for casual exercise wear and in the process, their communicators. She grabbed it, noticing some kind of alarm going off and called for Rose.

"Not now!" She groaned back. "Can't you see I'm kicking Amazon ass!"

"Rose! An alarm is going off!" Looking back down to the device, the screen began to frost over. "What in the—gah!" She dropped it when the frost began to freeze her hand. "Uh Guys!"

Rose and Donna finally stopped, but only when the gym was beginning to be coated in a thin layer of ice.

"Uh oh." Rose ran to her communicator. "Oh no. No. No. No. No!"

"What is it?" Donna asked.

"Drake's daughter," Rose answered, "She's awake."

Just then, the lights went out.

— **/0\—**

With the doors frozen over, Donna used her Amazonian strength to kick them out so the three could leave the gym and get to the medical wing on the first floor seeing as they were in the middle of the Tower. All three had their arms wrapped tightly around themselves, shaking from the cold. Even Rose whose uniform was a full leather outfit.

"S-s-so b-break it d-d-down f-f-for me again?" Terra shivered.

Rose rolled her eyes. "I-I-I already t-t-told you. D-D-Drakes-s-s daughter was-s-s f-f-frozen, now sh-sh-she's awake. I-I-I'm g-g-guessing she f-froze the Tower."

"Then sh-sh-shouldn't the tower be warm-m-m then?" Donna asked.

Rose shook her head. "Her m-m-mom was s-s-some kind of ice queen."

"L-l-like the m-m-m-movie?" Terra wondered aloud.

"I g-g-guess. Are you k-k-k-kidding me?!"

They came to the elevator and as they suspected it was frozen solid, still they hoped that something was still working.

"S-s-so we're taking the s-s-stairs?" Donna moved to the doors beside the elevator and Once again, ripped them open leading them to the staircase. "U-u-up we go."

It took them awhile, but Donna was finally able to pry open the doors to the first floor of the tower. The trio hung a right towards the medical wing, but noises from the kitchen drew their attention in the opposite direction. Confused they headed that way regardless, slowing their pace when they could tell that the noises she had been hearing was someone eating.

Very loud chomping, biting, and slurping.

"S-s-so how d-d-do we wanna d-d-do this?" Donna asked. "It M-m-may be overwhelming to m-m-meet all of us at once."

"I v-v-vote Rose go."

She spun around glaring at Terra. "Why m-me?"

"Uh, c-c-cuz you actually kn-kn-know what's going on here d-d-duh?"

Rose was about to protest, but Terra had a point. Huffing a breath of ice she pressed her back against the slick wall, sliding sideways until she came to the open doors and peered around the corner.

A young woman, dark brown hair, pale skin and dressed in a long ice blue dress was hard at work ravaging the kitchen, eating everything she could get her hands on.

Rose nearly gagged and whispered to herself. "Someone's hungry." Not wanting to frighten her, Rose entered the kitchen with her hands outstretched. However before she could call out, her feet were suddenly stuck to the floor.

To be exact. FROZEN to the floor.

"I heard you coming." She froze the doorway, making sure Donna and Terra wouldn't be bothering them. "So you can drop the sneaky crap." The young girl turned around, chocolate brown eyes narrowed and a piece of meat dangling from her mouth like a cigarette. Her lovely rounded face was twisted into a scowl in an attempt to seem intimidating. Rose fought against the ice that held her in place, but soon it began to creep upwards.

"I'm gonna ask this once." With one gulp she finished the meat that had been dangling from her mouth. "Where. Am. I?"

Rose shook violently from the cold. "T-T-Titans T-T-Tower—"

"Jump City California, home of the Teen Titans." Jacqueline grabbed the sides of her head and screamed, "how do I know that!?"

The ice creeped further up Roses body, this time seemingly out of Jacqueline's control. "You've been as-s-sleep. I-I-I'm not here t-t-to hurt you."

Jacqueline huffed. "Yeah right! The last thing I remember is my home being attacked, being separated from my mother, that red headed bitch cornering me, now I'm in some weird ass place and a chick in leather is telling me she's a friend. That about cover it?"

The ice had covered Rose all the way to the bottom of her chest, keeping her arms pinned to her sides, but she was still able to manage a shrug. "W-w-we'll when y-y-you p-p-p-put it th-th-that way." Jacqueline began pacing, her fingers gripping her hair in frustration. "C-c-c-could we finished this c-c-c-conversation s-s-somewhere warmer?"

Jacqueline glared. "Not until you tell me what happened to my mother, my aunt and uncle and cousins and why the hell am I here!" Rose was about to answer when Jacqueline's head suddenly jerked to the side, seeing Donna and Terra trying to break down the icy wall.

"J-j-just unf-f-freeze everything, a-a-and we'll t-t-talk about this."

Jacqueline's frown deepened as if she hadn't heard what Rose had said. "Maybe they'll be more talkative. Sit tight." Jacqueline slapped her hand over Roses mouth, covering it in ice to keep her from talking. With another wave, the ice wall vanished. "Tell me what I wanna know, or your friend gets iced."

The two Titans entered cautiously. "There is no need for any of this." Said Donna. "Just unfreeze our friend—"

"NO!" Rose groaned behind the icy gag as the ice seemed to constrict around her. Long blade-like icicles emerged from the ice reaching towards them like spears. "WHERE'S MY MOTHER? WHERE AM I? WHERE'S MY FAMILY?"

"Jacqueline Anna Daniels! That is enough!"

Even though the voice was firm and frightening enough to shake the foundation around them, and calmness settled over the kitchen and living area. Jacqueline in particular felt her mixed emotions of fear and anger subtly be replaced with peace, causing the dangerous jagged ice that had formed to vanish. A middle aged woman with curly dark red hair and a long blue dress, stepped from the shadows, whispering gentle, calming words.

"Jackie, calm yourself. Just like I showed you."

Finally. Something that made sense to the poor girl. "Grandma Mal!" She threw herself into her arms, and sobbed relentlessly into her shoulder.

Malundra hushed her, rocking her side to side and patting her head. She glanced at the Titans and motioned to Rose. "Tend to your friend." Instantly the ice that had imprisoned Rose melted away, dropping the girl to the ground with a shivering thud.

They ran to her side, Terra taking her time as she passed Malundra. "Thanks mom." Just then their communicators went off, signaling an incoming craft asking to land.

Jump Cities Titans had returned.

— **/0\—**

"Ah man!" Cyborg sobbed, "my baby!"

Ryand'r leaned over to his sister. "This is his offspring?"

She shook her head. "No this is the towers computer systems, however Cyborg is very, um, close with his creations." Ryand'r nodded, but was still puzzled, especially when Cyborg fell to his knees, sobbing from both eyes.

Starfire pulled out her communicator when it began buzzing. " _What's it looking like Star?_ " She maneuvered the communicator so that the screen was facing Cyborg. " _Oh_."

Cyborg sniffled. "It's …. gonna take a while Rob. Though it'd be faster if Drake was down here."

" _He's n-n-not g-g-going anywhere!_ " Rose screamed from the other side.

" _Sorry Cyborg_." Robin snickered. " _But Rose has claimed him for now. Starfire should be able to help you melt the ice though. Once the ice is gone when will we be operational?"_

Cyborg huffed. "I'll have a better idea once I get all this ice off. For now the entire tower is shut down."

Robin sighed. " _Well at least if anything happens we have our communicators operational. Let us know if you need anything."_

Cyborg grumbled under his breath and set to work.

— **/0\—**

Robin shut off the communicator as he walked into the living room where a dragon had wrapped himself around the freezing Rose. She had cuddled herself as closely as she could to his heated skin, using one of his wings as a blanket.

The ice had vanished from the living area, but it was still frigid, regardless of how hard the summer sun beat against the tower from the outside. Donna and Terra sat on the couch, embracing each other since Rose laid claim to the dragon.

"Sorry guys, It'll take some time."

"So no heat?" Terra asked.

"Oh c-c-come on. You weren't-t-t nearly f-f-frozen to d-d-death."

Drake snorted into her face. "She wasn't going to let you die."

She growled. "J-j-just sh-shut up and spoon with me." He chuckled and laid his head down on the ground complying with her request.

"Where are the witches?" Donna asked.

Drake's head shot up again. "Watch it Amazon."

"Yeah," Terra snapped, "That's my mom your talking about." An uncomfortable silence fell on top of them like an anvil, Drake in particular glaring razor sharp daggers. "Um, sorry. I meant adoptive mom."

Drake narrowed his dragon eyes. "I guess I can't be to hard on you. She was more of a mother to you then she ever was to me."

The silence wasn't as deafening now, but Terra decided to push her luck. "Hey if you think about it, we're kinda, um," knowing exactly where she was going with that, his glare returned, "Nevermind."

"To answer your question," he swung his head towards Donna, "they are on the roof. Malundra is going over the situation with her."

"I th-thought your s-s-spell thingy d-d-did that."

He lowered his head onto the ground again. "It's always better coming from someone you know and trust. Apparently that's Malundra."

Robin ran his hands through his hair, mentally going through anything he may have forgotten once they had gotten back to the tower. Then it occurred to him.

— **/0\—**

Jacqueline stared blankly off into the horizon, her grandmother's words hovering over her mind like fluttering butterflies. Yes it was hard to accept, but Malundra's unique ability to project emotions was keeping the fragile girl calm.

She had been staring into the abyss for a while now, so Malundra pulled her back to reality. "Jacqueline honey."

She turned around. "I….have so many…"

"I know dear. I know."

"My mom. Aunt Anna? They're ….."

Malundra shook her head. "It has been over a hundred years. I'm sorry."

Jacqueline wrapped her arms around herself, tears pushing against the back of her eyes, but even still Malundra's power continued.

"Why me? Why did… why did they take me?"

"That I do not know. I don't know who or why you were taken."

Jacqueline could sense Malundra spoke the truth, but she didn't want to be the one to tell her grandmother that it was her twin sister that had captured her.

"Why here?" She asked. "Why am I here with these… super heroes?"

It was clear on her face, Malundra was thinking over her next words carefully. "They found you, deep in the mountains of Switzerland. Not knowing what to do, they brought you here and used a spell to help you gather knowledge from over the last hundred years."

Malundra took her by the arms. "You can trust them." Jacqueline knew her grandmother wouldn't lie to her, but that didn't mean she would be quick to trust anyone. Not yet anyways. "One of them is a Dragon Knight."

She snorted a laugh. "Nice try Gran, but I know all the knights are gone. Just like my dad."

Malundra smiled. "Not all of them sweetie."

Jacqueline rolled her eyes, but once again she saw no deceit in her grandmother's eyes. "Your …. serious?" Malundra nodded. Seemingly excited she asked, "Do you think he knows what happened to my father? Wait, probably not, huh?"

Malundra shrugged. "Wouldn't hurt to ask."

— **/0\—**

Back in the lower levels of the tower, a pale faced Robin stared into the now empty cell.

Vol-Yor had escaped and judging by the slashes and claw marks, they had a huge problem on their hands.

 **Reminder: Back in the earlier parts of the Titan Knight series it was revealed that Malundra became an adoptive mother to Terra before wiping her memory so that she could be a normal girl. Terra still thinks of Malundra as a mother.**

 **Anyways, being busier these days I'm not sure when I'll update but it will happen, mark my words.**

 **Read review and we'll see ya next time.**


	2. A fallen Warrior

Hey! Look whose back!

The book is going wonderfully but I managed to find some time to come on back to fanfiction. Unfortunately I'm not sure if I'll be on a consistent schedule cuz I'm still working on the book and dealing with agents, editing, etc. don't worry, I haven't forgotten my peeps.

This chapter is a bit short, but I hope you guys enjoy it.

on with the show!

Chapter 2: A fallen Warrior

Starfire kept her glowing hands a safe distance from the computer system while the heat from her star bolts worked to melt the frost. Cyborg monitored from afar to make sure she didn't accidentally destroy the computers while Ryand'r waited right beside him.

"Your doing great Star, just keep—Ah man!" Looking at the floor, the melted ice was beginning to flood the basement. "If it's not one thing it's another."

"I apologize for not being more useful." Ryand'r commented sheepishly. "My body hasn't had enough time to absorb any sunlight for me to use my starbolts."

Cyborg patted the young Tameranean on the back. "Don't worry about it. You'll still fit in just fine around here." Before he could continue to raise his spirits, the communicator on his forearm began to ding. "This is Cyborg, what's up Rob?"

Robins frightened face filled the screen. "Cyborg! Get out of the basement now!"

He leapt back in surprise. "Yo! Rob calm down! What's going on?!"

"Cyborg just listen! Val-yor's escaped and I think he might have changed into one of those monsters! You need to get Starfire and Ryand'r out of there now!"

Cyborg was still confused, having completely forgotten about the Vernsthian a long time ago, but just as the pieces clicked back into place a chittering noise drew his attention to the open doors.

Cyborg sighed, "Please don't be there. Please be a rat, or anything else." Slowly he turned his head.

Val-Yor was rendered almost completely unrecognizable, though he still held his impressive height and broad shoulders, his limbs had snapped and contorted unnaturally and crackled with each movement he made. His eyes, wide and filled with madness shifted widely all over the room, but showed no recognition of the Titans.

The three Titans froze in place, Starfire moving slowly towards her brother, while Cyborg tried a different approach.

"Val-Yor? You in there buddy?"

His eyes zeroed in on the Titans, going from one to the other, until falling onto Ryand'r. His bottom jaw split in two as he let out a ear shattering shriek then charged, aiming right for Ryand'r.

Without a second's hesitation, Cyborg placed himself in between them, sonic cannon humming and ready to fire. "Don't make me do—gah!" Val-Yor backhanded him, slamming him into the wall, and continued his assault.

Fists charged, Starfire launched herself at Val-Yor. "Ryand'r! Run for cover!"

Scowling he reached into his belt for the one thing he had taken with him from the Sprawl. With a simple flick, the plasma cutter ignited.

"Sorry sister, but I've stopped running from these creatures a long time ago." With a battle cry he charged to his sisters defense.

—:0:—

With the afternoon sun beaming into the common room, Donna, Terra and Rose were finally beginning to warm up, even melting some of the ice that had collected. But relaxing in the warmth would have to wait once each of their Titan communicators began ringing.

"Titans! Report to the basement immediately! Val-Yor has escaped and there's reason to believe he poses a dangerous threat! Get down here and prepare for battle!"

The message was obviously urgent, but the cold Titans were taking their time responding to the call.

"Can't we wait till it's warmer to be attacked?" Terra said rubbing her exposed arms.

"Exercise has proven to keep you warm." Dragon Drake got to all fours, nudging a reluctant Rose away with his head.

"Says the guy who's always warm." Though she didn't want to fight, Rose had warmed up enough so that at least her life wasn't in peril, but like the other two she was exhausted.

He snorted, but before he could join them, the doorway leading to the roof had opened, soon followed by a voice.

"Whoa. So it is true."

Jacqueline stood with wide eyes staring directly at the dragon in the center of the living room, Malundra standing anxiously behind her. Everything grew still, those aware of the situation watched as the air grow tense between the dragon and Jacqueline. While Drake was clearly thinking of something, anything, to say Jacqueline was staring at the creature with wonder.

She moved slowly into the living room as if approaching a doe, "I, um, thought all the Dragon Knights were gone."

Drake shook his diamond shaped head, as if waking up from some strange spell. "Um, yes," the familiar flash of light shifted the dragon back into the man, "there are still some of us left?"

Her eyes glinted with excitement, finally giving him the chance to examine his daughter more fully, and his breath was taken away. She was the exact copy of her mother, if not for her chocolate brown hair and large eyes a darker shade of brown than his own, they could have passed for twins. She was just as stunning as her mother.

She scrunched her face, appearing uncomfortable. "Are you okay. Your kinda freaking me out."

Back to reality he slammed his open mouth shut and gave himself a slap to his face.

"Sorry. Just, um, lots of stuff and, uh—"

"They need us in the basement." Rose grabbed onto his arm and began to lead him out of the living room.

"Thanks," he muttered under his breath.

"Technically I did it for her, cuz you looked like a total freak just staring at her like that."

He facepalmed. "Yeah I'm off to a great start huh?"

"Sure let's say that." He disappeared with Rose, Donna and Terra and headed for the stairwell to the basement.

Jacqueline had her sensitive ears trained on them the whole time and now she was even more confused than when she woke up. She turned to her grandmother.

"What was that about?"

She shrugged. "Titan business I assume. Best to stay out of the way."

Jacqueline pursed her lips with annoyance. She wasn't the kind to shy away from a fight. Ever.

—:0:—

Ryand'r swung his plasma cutter at Val-Yor who moved out of its way with ease. It was odd, Val-Yor seemed to retain some of his Warrior-like intelligence which wasn't common for a Necromorph at all. It made him wonder if his mind was fighting against the Markers influence.

With a scream, Val-Yor leapt at him, ignoring Cyborg and Starfire completely and swiped his claws in an attempt to take his head off. Cyborg leapt on top of him, taking his sonic cannon and placing it against his temple. Val-Yor slammed Cyborg against the wall, a bony spike that had emerged from his elbow impaling him through his abdomen. He groaned, not in pain, but with discomfort especially when sparks from his electrical parts began to singe his human flesh. With long bone claws he prepared to slash Cyborg into pieces, but Ryand'r sliced the appendage right off with the plasma cutter.

"Consider yourself unarmed!" Ryand'r shouted to a suddenly silent room. "What? Friend Beast Boy said jokes during battle are a good thing?"

"Probably shouldn't take battle tips from Beastie, Ryand'r." Cyborg said with a shake of his head.

As if nothing has happened, Val-Yor jumped at Ryand'r again, aware that his older sister was flying to intercept him. Val-Yor planted his feet, backhanded Starfire away from them and turned his attention back to Ryand'r.

His two jaw pieces moved in different directions, his tongue lapping, and his head jerking in different directions. Ryand'r got into a fighting stance with the plasma cutter humming in his hands, but looking over the former Vernathian, it appeared as if he was trying to speak as best as his new form allowed.

Finally Ryand'r could finally pick out, "must . . . . die . . .." He shrieked and leapt again, claws and fangs bared.

"GRRAGH!" Robin's steel-toed boot connected with the side of Val-Yors head, slamming him into the computers.

The systems sparked from the damage caused. "Yo! Rob careful!" Val-Yor pushed himself away from the wall of computers, his claws slashing against the metal like were tissue paper. "Ah COME ON!"

Val-Yor charged towards Ryand'r, ready to claw away anyone in his way.

"We need to get Val-Yor out of here." Robin said under his breath.

"I can assist with that." Ryand'r took off on foot towards one of the open doorways, ignoring the calls from Robin and his sister, and as he had hoped, Val-Yor followed close behind.

He had no idea where he was going, but he had to get Val-Yor away from his friends, and apparently the rather important computers. Peeking over his shoulder, Val-Yor was hot on his tail, even with one arm he was proven to be quite lethal.

He stopped in front of the stairway doors, and once he was sure he was a safe distance away, he spun around, plasma cutter up and ready to slice him into pieces. Just as Val-Yor charged, ignoring the weapon completely, the door behind him swung open followed by someone grabbing Ryand'r and pulling him inside the stairwell.

Drake and Rose slammed the doors shut just as Val-Yor slammed into it. "He did NOT look like that a day ago." Rose grunted as she fought to keep the door closed.

"He's infected," Drake deduced, "he's become a necromorph."

Terra and Donna, both battle ready but tending to Ryand'r, both looked confused. "I'm assuming that's a bad thing." Donna wondered.

Bone claws pierced the metal door, inches from Drake's head. "Ya think?"

Ryand'r brushes off the two Titans, "He is not contagious by earth standards, but there is no cure either. It would be a disservice to allow him to remain in this state."

"I'm with, um, him." Rose gestured to the Tameranean boy.

He was so engrossed by what was happening with Val-Yor, he had yet to realize that he was surrounded by attractive earth females. This realization suddenly made him freeze.

"You may, um, call me—" Claws sliced at the door again this time clawing downwards in an attempt to rip the door into pieces in order to get it open.

"Wow you guys are doing a lot of talking!" Ice began to glide along the walls, reaching the door and freezing the claws in place. Val-Yor could be heard on the other side of the attempting to free himself, as Jacqueline descended the stairs to join the others.

"What are you doing here?" Drake snapped, a little to harshly.

She paused, but then laughed, "Um, helping? Duh. Your welcome."

"Actually, ice queen, you may have screwed us." Just as Rose spoke, Val-Yor jerked his claw out of the ice, completely shattering the door and exposing them all. "You were saying."

It didn't matter that Val-Yor was grossly outmatched, it didn't matter that he only had one arm, the madness and confusion pushed him forward. Passed the Titans, their powers and weapons, they were only obstacles between him and Ryand'r. His alien power, combined with his necromorph insanity, made it easy for him to blow passed them, leaving only him and the young Tameranean.

Ryand'r held tightly to his only line of defense, but Val-Yor moved out of the way and slammed his shoulder into his gut. With his claws wrapped around the boy's throat he lifted him into the air.

". . . must . . . die . . ." He released the pieces of his jaw, opening his mouth wide like a snake about to swallow its meal whole.

Drake leapt onto Val-Yor's shoulders before plunging his dagger into his chest. Val-Yor shrieked in pain as he stumbling backwards out of the stairway. An odd light began pulsing from the entry wound in Val-Yor's chest, and as the Titans surrounded him, a small glimmer of the once proud warrior Varnathian stared back at them.

Drake kept his hand on the hilt of his blade, looking into the eyes that were now pleading with him.

" . . . pl—please . . ."

Drake removed the blade, before plunging it again into his heart.

". . . thank you . . ."

—:0:—

The titans had all gathered outside on Titans island, partly because the tower was still freezing cold and partly because they were saying goodbye to Val-Yor.

"I still don't get why we're wasting our time saying goodbye to this asshole." Cyborg grumbled.

"He May have been a less than welcomed ally," Starfire began, "but if it was not for his message, we would not have found my brother on that space station." She wrapped an arm around Ryand'r who made sure to take a few deep breaths of the beautiful ocean air, and bask in the wonderful earth sun. Slowly he could feel his body absorbing it light.

Cyborg lowered his head in shame. "I guess you're right about that." Starfire comforted him with a hand on his shoulder.

"He lived a life like a warrior, he deserves to go out like one." Drake had worked to gather large heaps of wood, stacking them together before placing Val-Yor's body on top of it.

"Plus the fire will keep us all warm." Everyone shot a death glare to Rose, who shrugged. "Too soon?"

"Yes Rose," Robin snarled, "ten minutes is too soon." He shook his head, rubbing his forehead with his thumb and index finger. "Sorry. Just . . . stressed out I guess." She slapped him on the shoulder, giving him a "no worries", before addressing Drake. "Ready?"

He nodded, and with a small spark from his nose, lit the bonfire to consume the fallen Vernathian. "I'm not sure what the customs of his planet were, but this is how we honor the fallen."

Starfire shrugged, "I do not know either, but this works."

Silence fell as the Titans stood back watching the flames. "Not how I wanted the Titan R&R to start." Robin muttered again.

Cyborg shrugged, "Well it can't—"

Rose slapped a hand over his mouth, "Don't. Just, don't."

At the top of Titans tower, Jacqueline stood watching the gathering on the island, but instead her eyes were trained on the Dragon Knight. Her mind replayed over and over again the scene of the knife he had used, the broken knife. She thought back to the stories she was told as a child. The stories of her great great grandfather, the wars they fought, and the sword they used.

"The sword of Tarrin-Ka." Elsa pointed.

A five year old Jacqueline scrunched her nose. "That's a funny name."

Her mother, Queen Elsa, chuckled, "Remember, that's your great, great, grandfather, and this," she pointed to a picture of a sword in the storybook, "was his sword."

Jacqueline tilted her head, looking at the blade with interest, along with the warrior who wielded it. A massive golden scaled dragon holding the sword triumphantly as he stood amongst the scattered corpses of the Leviathans. Elsa sat back watching as her daughter looked over the pages, then turned the page.

"Mommy? Why is the sword broken?"

Elsa looked at the page. Tarrin-Ka, the Dragon Knight, was seen breaking the sword into three pieces. "You see sweetie," she began, "Tarrin-Ka didn't want the sword to fall into the wrong hands, so he cut the sword into three pieces to give to his three sons." She turned the page to a scene of three other Dragon Knights. She pointed to the dragon in gold and blue armor. "Draco," she pointed to the dragon in green and black armor, "Tharog," the last knight in white and crimson armor, "and Corwin."

Jacqueline nodded, looking down at the knights while deep in thought. Elsa pointed to Corwin. "This one is your grandfather."

She looked up at her mother, "My dads, dad right?"

Elsa nodded. "That's right, and when your father was old enough, Corwin gave his blade to him."

"Hmm," Jacqueline shut the book and placed it back into her mother's lap, "I think I'm ready for bed."

Elsa sensed her daughters shifted mood, from excitement to something she didn't quite recognize. "Jacqueline, honey? Are you alright?"

Jacqueline's deep brown eyes shook with with sadness. "Why isn't daddy here with us? We did he leave?"

There was still a one in three chance this wasn't her father, but If it was he had some serious explaining to do.

Hopefully next chapter we can FINALLY get to some relaxing for the Titans. You know the drill and we'll see ya next time.


	3. The Mall of Shopping

**We're back! Not a lot to say, just read and enjoy.**

 **on with the show!**

 **Chapter 3: The mall of shopping**

Jacqueline felt the icy touch of her powers reach through the tower, extracting the ice that had clung to its walls. Snowflakes flowed into her waiting fingertips atop the roof and letting them float harmlessly to melt into the warm summer air. The Titans stood back, watching the display of power she demonstrated with awe, but for Drake it only broke his heart.

She closed her eyes and took a deep inhale. "It's done. Your tower is ice free." She turned around to face the odd group. "Sorry about that."

Malundra shook her head at her granddaughters lackluster apology, but the Titans didn't seem offput. Robin took the initiative and stepped towards her.

"I think we may have gotten off on the wrong foot. My name is Robin, leader of the Teen Titans," he gestured to his team one by one, "this is Cyborg, Starfire, her brother Wildfire. You've already met Rose, Terra and Donna." They exchanged a sheepish wave, Rose however glared.

"Yeah, um, sorry." At least this time her apology seemed a bit more sincere.

Robin gestured to the final member. "And this is, um,"

"Trip." Drake said suddenly. "Call me Trip."

Ryand'r looked puzzled, "But I thought his name was—"

Starfire shot towards Jacqueline. The alien princess moved so fast she didn't have any time to react when she suddenly found herself face to face with big excited green eyes.

"Would you like some new garments? I notice your dress is in need of changing."

Jacqueline looked down at her dress, noticing only a few rips and tears. She then cast a hesitant glance at Starfire's outfit. "I guess, but your not gonna put me in that are you?"

Starfire looked down at herself then back at Jacqueline, who was much shorter than herself. In fact she was just about as tall as Raven. "No, no, but I do believe I have something for you." She grabbed her by the hand and led her back into the tower.

The Titans watched the door and as soon as they were sure they wouldn't be listened in on they began speaking amongst themselves.

"So we're just gonna breeze over the fact that she's related to one of us?" Rose asked.

Drake rolled his shoulders, "That's the idea."

"Honestly none of this is our business," said Robin firmly, "but for now, respect his wishes and try to stay out of it. In the meantime, Cyborg when will the tower be back online?"

Cyborg narrowed his eye as he spoke between his teeth. "I. Don't. Know, and won't know till I look at the damage Val-Yor caused." He towered over Robin, staring down at him with fire in his eyes. "Do me a favor and QUIT ASKING ME THAT!" The giant metal man stomped off grumbling obscenities under his breath.

"He gets angered easily I assume?"

Rose shook her head at Ryand'r's question, "Drake and Raven have more of a temper then Cyborg."

Drake shot her a look, "I do not … all the time." She strolled back into the tower, sticking her tongue at him with Ryand'r, Robin and the other Titans close behind. Drake watched them vanish into the tower but opted to stay behind. Turning around he faced his mother who was still by the edge of the roof staring out into open water.

She exhaled, allowing the wind to brush against her crimson hair. "You wish to speak to me in private?" She knew the answer but had to get the conversation started somehow.

He approached. "Jacqueline called you 'Grandma Mal'? She knows you?"

Unable to read his emotions with her empathy, she braced herself for the ensuing fight.

"Yes Drake. I was known to her as her grandmother. I watched over her, helped Elsa raise her, taught her, loved her in a way that I wish I could have loved you." She turned around. "You have to understand, I was just making up for abandoning you—oh!" She jolted in surprise when she found herself wrapped into a warm embrace from her son.

He held her close, whispering into her hair, "Thank you."

Even without her empathy she knew he was sincere and returned his hug. "I thought you would be furious?"

He chuckled as he took a step back. "I'm just so tired of being angry. I can't forgive what you did to me, but I can forget about it. Besides, you took care of her when I couldn't, I can't be mad about that."

She smiled, the warmth of his words warming her in a way she had wanted ever since she met him just a year ago.

He shuffled his shoulders nervously, "So, can you, tell me about her?"

She laughed shaking her head. "You should get to know her yourself. I will tell you that she's very much like you. Both the good… and the bad parts."

Drake's shoulders slumped with a moan. He wasn't arrogant enough to know he wasn't difficult, and getting to know someone just like him wasn't something he was looking forward too.

"Also," she continued, "you would be very proud of some of the things she's accomplished. I know I am."

 _Huh, then maybe it wouldn't be so bad? Maybe?_

— **:0:—**

Jacqueline's lip curled in mild disgust looking into the closet filled with black leotards and blue capes. "I don't mind the color scheme, but what's up with the whole bathing suit look?"

Starfire was only half listening, she was more focused on trying to find something for Jacqueline to wear that Raven, in her absence, wouldn't mind loaning away. Fortunately a lot of her civilian clothes had gone untouched, some even had he price tags still on them. Starfire made a mental note to take their newest guest shopping.

"I too am sometimes confused by Ravens uniform choices, but I do not argue. OO!" She lifted a midnight blue long sleeved shirt and black leggings out of Ravens dresser drawer. "These look like they'd fit you fine."

Jacqueline eyed the articles of clothing before shrugging in agreement. "Yeah those could work." She took them into her arms and began to undress in the center of the room.

"EEP!" Starfire spun around to give her some privacy, but instead Jacqueline looked confused.

"What?"

"It is my understanding that earth females need the privacy when changing. That is what Raven is always saying. She gets very upset when I insist on helping her with dressing and undressing."

Jacqueline scoffed, "I don't have anything you haven't seen before." She moaned in relief once she was free of the dress. "Oh gosh it's so good to get out of that thing. I hate dresses."

Starfire kept her gaze averted, "Then why were you wearing it when we found you?"

Dressing into Ravens clothes, she thought for a moment. "We were doing something important. My mother said I had to look presentable so she wrestled me into that thing." A heaviness came over her when she thought back to that night, a heaviness so thick Starfire could feel it.

She turned around, "It is alright. You do not need to speak of it if you do not wish too."

Jacqueline's mouth was a tight line. "Wasn't looking for your permission." She finished dressing and began to examine herself in a large full length mirror. Once again her face twisted, but not in disgust. "Your friends a bit, um, chesty?" Sure enough the shirt she wore was a bit looser around the chest, much to her chagrin.

"Oh yes! Friend Raven is very much, how you say, endowed?"

"And hippy?" She examined her behind in the mirror, noticing that the fabric was a bit more stretched out in the leggings, but it was a perfect fit for her.

"Yes, her derriere is quite impressive, but yours is lovely too. Worry not we'll make sure to get you some new clothes at the mall of the shopping while your here."

Jacqueline held out her hands. "No, no. I wouldn't want to put you out."

"You are not putting me anywhere," Starfire held her chin high, "it is my pleasure."

"What I mean is," Jacqueline cut her off, "I appreciate everything you guys did for me, really I am, but I can't stay here."

Starfire tilted her head, "But why not?"

Jacqueline ran her hands through her hair in annoyance. "Look, you guys don't know me, I don't know you, I know you guys do the hero thing, and that's cool, but I don't belong here."

It took Starfire a bit longer to understand what it was Jacqueline was trying to say, but once it clicked for her, she smiled sympathetically. "If it is your desire to leave then you may, but please give us a chance to find help you find your feet before you depart."

The aliens wording was a bit off, but Jacqueline was able to understand what it was Starfire was trying to say. "Thanks. I think."

She smiled, "I welcome you." Starfire continued to look around for clothes for Jacqueline while she looked at the clothes she wore, jealous of this Raven.

"At least I have a nice butt still."

— **:0:—**

Drake and Malundra walked back into the tower seeing a scowling Robin staring down at his communicator that had been placed on the table in front of him. Ryand'r sat beside him, mirroring his actions in a rather comical way.

Drake cleared his throat, but Robin kept his frown directed towards his communicator. "Saw Donna and Terra take off back to the East," he stated, "so what now?"

"Apparently we are waiting for Cyborg to relay information to us from the basement," Ryand'r responded, "I suppose that means sitting here and frowning at this yellow device."

"I don't like just sitting around doing nothing." Robin grumbled. "But Cyborg insists I leave him be while he works. Like I'm Beast Boy or something."

Without the hiss of the common room doors to let them know when someone was coming, they had no way of knowing when Starfire had entered until she announced. "Greetings! We have dressed the Jacqueline!"

Jacqueline walked in behind her with a large roll of her eyes, dressed in Ravens clothes. "Wow does everything have to be fanfare with you?"

"That's just my sister for you." Ryand'r stood up, but suddenly grew nervous when he met eyes with her, his mouth suddenly going dry and scratchy. "O-oh, u-uh—I-I-I—"

She cocked a brow. "You doing okay? Mister orange boy?"

Starfire came to her brothers rescue. "All is well. Ryand'r is just nervous with the new people."

"Yes. I was unaware that Earth females were so lovely."

Jacqueline belted out a laugh. "That's sweet, but—wait. Did you say 'earth females'?"

"Oh yes!" Starfire flew to her brother, throwing her arm around his shoulder. "Ryand'r and I are from the planet Tameran."

Jacqueline nodded her head and headed to the fridge. "'Course you are." She threw the door open examining its now empty contents. "Your outta food by the way… I heard that."

She shot a look at Drake after muttering the words "I wonder why". "I forgot that your hearing is impressive."

She shut the door to the fridge. "Mom said I got it from my dad."

"Robin," Starfire floated towards her boyfriend, "would it be possible to use the Titans money to purchase some new garments for Jacqueline?"

His frown instantly turned upside down seeing her bat her eyelashes. "Sure Starfire. Not like a whole lot is going on right now anyways."

"Joy!" She placed a large kiss onto his lips and made sure to let it linger for a minute or two.

"Can I come too?" Everyone stared blankly at the Dragon Knight. "What? I, uh, need stuff that the, erm, mall has."

"You've never been to a mall in your life have you?" Malundra asked.

"I have not."

"Well in the meantime," said Robin, "Ryand'r and I will wait here and wait for information from Cyborg."

The aforementioned half machine stomped into the common room towards the fridge. The air around him daring anyone to come within three feet of him.

"What's got you so grumpy?"

Everyone held their breath as he slowly moved his head to face Jacqueline. "Someone. Froze. My. Tower."

Jacqueline, who thus far had a temperament that didn't care what people thought, suddenly sheepishly shrugged her shoulders. "Yeah, uh, sorry about that. Ya know, woke up in a weird place, even weirder people. Don't really have the best control over my emotions."

He snorted, brow narrowed, but slowly breathed away his frustrations. "Don't worry about it lil Lady." He patted her on her back, almost knocking her over. "Besides it's not all bad. Because of the damage done to the network and computers I had to call in some backup."

"Backup," Robin arched a brow, "who?"

Heavy breathing sounded from the open doorway followed by the clunking of bags. "You guys… need to fix… your elevator."

Cyborg smiled so widely Jacqueline thought he was going to shatter his metallic jaw. He ran like an excited puppy to the young blonde haired, blue eyed woman in the orange turtle neck. He composed himself, remembering to uphold a calm and cool demeanor. "Hey Sarah, welcome back."

"SARAH!" Like a bullet, Starfire shot towards Sarah Simms wrapping her in a hug capable of crushing a submarine. "IT IS GLORIOUS TO SEE YOU AGAIN!"

"Thanks … Starfire … need air…"

"Alright Star don't break her." Robin helped guide her back to the ground and rip the two apart. "Good to see you again Sarah."

He shook her hand. "I actually didn't think you'd guys would remember me."

"Are you kidding," Drake shook her hand, "how can we forget the human girl that hit Carnus with a truck?"

She laughed, "Yup. Good times. Now you guys have a tower that needs to be fixed I see."

"Yeah, that was my fault," Jacqueline raised her hand shyly, "did you say Carnus? The demon?"

Malundra took her by the shoulders, "We have a lot to talk about."

— **:0:—**

What, in the world, was he thinking coming to this place?

Sitting on a bench in the middle of the mall, Drake put his cheek in the palm of his hand. He had never been to one of these places, but he heard the stories of chattering teenagers, boring clothing stores, and expensive food. There were one or two shops that caught his attention. A "Dark age" store filled with weapons made only for display and something called the "Hot Topical".

To his surprise, Jacqueline seemed quite interested in that store as well, but Starfire assured her that she wouldn't like it and dragged her off to "Rule 21". He was only in there for a minute when he had to leave, but did manage to find some socks he needed.

Staring into the vastness of space before him he didn't realize that Jacqueline had escaped from Starfires grasp and had taken a seat beside him.

"Good lord, that 'alien' is gonna drive me insane. I think she's still talking thinking I'm right there." Looking into the shop, Starfire was taking outfits off the rack and throwing them behind her as if someone was catching them.

Alas, there was no one.

He smiled. "She's an acquired taste, but you couldn't ask for a better friend."

Jacqueline shook her head. "I've just never been into the whole girly, prissy things. My mom tried to get me in dresses and all that, but I was more comfortable in pants."

 _Huh, I'm learning more about her already._

"So are there any more like you. Knights I mean?"

He thought carefully about his answer, not wanting to give her an excuse to seek them out. That was the last thing he wanted was for Draco or Malchior to get ahold of her. She may not be a Dragon Knight, but she still had Dragon blood that could easily carry a Dragon Knight child.

"I'm not sure, I've been busy doing other things over the last few years."

She pinched her brows together, "More important than your own kind?"

He couldn't help but laugh. "Life is full of cruel ironies. At first I wanted to avoid my duties, by throwing myself into something, anything that could help me avoid it. Then I accepted my duties, and it turned out to be a lie. A big, fat lie."

She waited for him to continue, "And now?"

He watched her from the corner of his eye, her expression neutral and hard to read. He inhaled. "Well let's just say I've found something else worth fighting for." Without waiting for a response he stood up. "I need to hit the head. I'll meet you guys later." With his small bag with socks in hand he made his way to the nearest restroom, he didn't have to go, he just needed some time away.

Moving past the crowd of people he disappeared into the restroom and leaned against the sink. Taking a few handfuls of water from the faucet, he splashed his face. Thankfully no one was around otherwise they would have seen the water evaporating from his skin.

Looking at himself in the mirror he wasn't sure what he was looking at. There was a time where he knew what he was, what his purpose was. He was a Dragon Knight, heir to the kingdom and future leader of his people. Now those that remained followed a path he refused to go down.

Then he was an errand boy for the King of Hell which was more of a vacation than anything else. It was fun and led him to these kid superheroes, he even found himself falling for one of them. Now he was one of them, and a father in the same week.

He chuckled. "Yup. Life is funny that way." He'd contemplate his place in the universe later, right now he had to figure out how to tell Jacqueline that he was her father.

"I think I'd rather find out the meaning of life. It'd be easier."

Washing his hands he walked out of the restroom and noticed that all of the mall patrons were standing still, staring blankly at the ceiling. Everyone, men, women and children were looking at something behind him. Curious he followed their line of sight.

An enormous screen had suddenly appeared dangling from the roof of the mall, and the picture was a black and white spinning swirl. Staring at the mixture of black and white colors, Drake could feel himself drifting away into a void of black and weightlessness. Suddenly everything that had weighed him down, his daughter, Landon, the Titans, Kole, Elsa everything just melted away. Without so much as a fight, he surrendered to the abyss.

" **Wake up you fool!"**

Reality slammed into him, throwing his eyes opened to see that he was in the hand of a giant toy robot that was about to stuff him into a compartment in its chest. He broke free from its grip with ease, but for added measure made sure to take its head off with his bare hands.

With the robot in pieces at his feet he scanned his surroundings, seeing more and more of the toy soldiers now coming towards him.

"What the hell?" He froze. Two of the robots were placing Starfire and Jacqueline, both unconscious, into the compartments on their chests. Seeing red he charged towards them only to be blocked off by a blockade of the toy soldiers. Each dressed in red coats, large furry hats, and rifles.

"Oy! Looks like someone escaped my hypno screens." Drake turned to the giant screen behind him that flickered to a man with bright red hair, blue glasses resting at the top of his nose, a coat with the English flag and a cane tipped with a red ruby. He was sitting on a throne that looked as if he had stolen it from the queen of England. When he saw Drake his eyes narrowed.

"'Ello there. 'O are you? Your no' a Titan."

Drake snarled, "Let then go and I won't," _won't what? You don't kill anymore? Don't I?_

"'Ow 'bou I make the rules my dear." He smirked. "I was 'oping the Titans would be here, but two works."

"Works for what?"

The man on the screen chuckled. "Jus' tell the Titans, Mad Mod 'as two of their friends, an' if they want them back alive, they'll play my games. If you survive that is!" He cackled before cutting out, and just then his robot army opened fire.


	4. Meanwhile in San Francisco

**Chapter 4: Meanwhile in San Francisco**

Jack Williams emerged from the sanctuary of his office after finishing up some paperwork to find a relatively quiet and empty house. _That's odd_ , he thought, _where'd everyone go?_ Curious he began to wonder the house until his attention was drawn to soft chattering in the living room. Turning the corner he was a bit surprised to see his wife's niece playing with his one year old daughter, baby Jessica.

Jessie was lying on her back with Raven hovering over her. "Where's Jessie?" Raven cupped her hands over her eyes, as the baby girls eyes began searching frantically for her. "There she is!" Jessie jolted, then smiled a big toothless smile.

Jack breathed a laugh, startling the pair.

Raven put a hand to her chest. "Oh, uncle Jack I didn't see you there."

He waved his hands, "No, no, no, my fault I should have announced myself or something." This was something that Jack had been dreading ever since his wife informed him that Raven would be staying with them. Alone time.

He liked Raven, he thought she was sweet, albeit quiet and very mature for her age which would be a great example for his Mary-Beth, his oldest. He didn't mind the idea of having an older role model for his kids to look up to, but on the other hand he wasn't to keen on the whole "daughter of a demon thing". He was glad when his reservations were somewhat put to rest when she wasn't contacting the damned or attracting the kind of paranormals he use to think only existed in poorly made horror films, and heck she even seemed somewhat normal for a superhero. Still, Jack was by no means an entertainer, which left the air in the room quite tense between the two.

Now it was just the two of them, and his baby daughter. In his gut he knew he could trust her with his child, but his brain told him to take his daughter away as fast as he could.

Shoving the feelings down he took a seat on the couch, watching Raven out of the corner of his eye. "Where, um, did everyone go?"

She laughed somewhat nervously. "To the store. I think they told you. Gar has specific dietary needs."

He chuckled as he turned the TV on. "Ah yes. A kid with fangs is a vegetarian. That's kind of ironic." He managed to see her smile somewhat shift into a thin line. "Oh, I, I didn't mean anything by it."

"No, I know," she stood up, taking Baby Jessie into her arm and bouncing her on her shoulder, "He's been through a lot and sometimes I feel a bit defensive of him. Even before we started dating."

The words "Well your kind gotta stick together" danced on the tip of his tongue, but he resisted the urge to speak them aloud.

The door from the garage opened and shut, "We're home!"

 _Thank goodness!_ Judging by Ravens expression she was just as relieved that they finally had company.

He got to his feet and greeted his family with a warm smile and hugs, until he caught a flash of green that made him jump back in surprise.

Beast Boy laughed it off. "Don't worry. I get that all the time." Without another thought he carried a couple of bags into the kitchen while Raven and his wife Alice glared daggers for his behavior.

"Sorry," he whispered, "it's just—"

Alice placed a bag against his lips as a signal to both get him to stop talking and take the bags. Before anything else happened, Mary-Beth, with a bag in her hands, scuttled off to her room. Seeing his opportunity to change to subject, he asked, "Where's she off to in such a hurry?"

Alice gave him a look that said "good call changing the subject". "She got some new makeup from the store."

Billy, their son that was helping put groceries away, stuck his tongue out. "Yuck, makeup is gross."

"You said it dude." Beast Boy patted him on his back, "you need to find a woman who doesn't need a bunch of makeup. Like Raven. She's gorgeous without it."

With Jessie still in her arms, Raven was making her way to the kitchen, but once she heard his words, she seemed to burrow herself into the crook of the babies neck to hide. Luckily Billy came to her rescue.

"Yuck. Get a room."

"They will not get a room," Alice said stepping between Billy and Beast Boy, "he's on the couch and she is in the guest bedroom." She draped her arm of Beast Boy's shoulders and pulled him close. "Isn't that right Garfield?"

Her sweet tone held some threat to it that made him swallow nervously. "Y-Yes ma'am."

She patted him on the back with a large grin on her face. "Good man."

"Honey," Jack called while he inspected one of the bags, "I think you made a mistake at the store. What are these rubber cubes supposed to be?"

She went to his side looking into the bag. "That is tofu. Seeing as our guest is a vegetarian and enjoys tofu, I thought it would be polite to have some on hand."

He looked at her as if she had gone completely insane. "But we eat actual food in this house right?"

"Tofu is real food." Beast Boy laughed. "Don't worry I'll cook up some for dinner tonight and you'll love it."

Jack held on to the side of the counter to steady himself while Alice rubbed her back. A daughter of a demon whose boyfriend was a green skinned shape shifter with fangs and pointed ears was going to cook tofu for him and his family. Could things get any more bizarre?

"WHA!" Raven yelped, surprising Jessie into a crying fit.

Everyone followed her line of sight to what she was staring at and followed suit in their reactions. The sixteen year old Mary-Beth had returned, with her new makeup applied, Dark purple smokey eyes, dark purple lipstick, and a pale powdered complexion. Once she walked in she looked passed everyone else and right at Beast Boy with wide hopeful eyes.

"What do you think Gar? Do you like it?"

"Sweety?" Jack called with wide eyes and a nervous grin. "What are you wearing?"

She rolled her eyes, "Makeup dad. I'm trying something new." She got closer to Beast Boy, batting her eyelashes. "So what do you think?"

Stumbling over his words he finally managed to say, "It's … dark? But nice?"

"Okay we got a 'nice'," said Alice, "now go wipe that stuff off before dinner."

Mary-Beth was about to argue, but Alice's stern motherly look told her to think twice about it. Reluctantly she disappeared to her room to do as she was told.

"So," Beast Boy clapped, "who's hungry."

 _Yes_ , Jack sighed, _it could get more bizarre._

— _ **:0:—**_

With the night air enveloping the couple in it's chilly embrace, Beast Boy took Raven by the hand and led her along the sidewalk for some much needed alone time. Although "alone time" was a generous term. Alice waved from the front yard of their home, Jack sitting beside her and both with a cup of coffee in their hands. Every time the pair looked over at the house, Alice waved to make sure they knew she was watching. A few laps around the street, with her hand in his, would have to do.

No matter how much he wanted more.

They had been walking quietly together for a few minutes before he chuckled nervously. "I, uh, think the tofu was a hit."

Raven shook her head. "No Gar, it wasn't. Uncle Jack called it 'millennial garbage' for heaven's sake."

His head dropped as he groaned. "Yeah, I know." He had prepared the tofu to the best of his abilities, but in the end only Raven and Alice were brave enough to venture a taste. A choice they both regretted.

Committing never to try that again, he glanced at her from the corner of his eye. "I can feel you staring at me." She smirked.

He looked straight ahead quickly. "Sorry. But can you blame me? It's been forever since I've seen you."

She brought her brows together. "It's only been a about a week."

Shrugging he responded. "Well, it feels longer." He stared straight ahead, not really looking at anything. "That mission it… got to me ya know? Got to all of us. I mean it had a happy ending sure, Starfire found her brother and the Titans have a new member. You'd like him. He's like a young Starfire."

She chuckled. "I guess it's the year of finding lost families." They walked quietly for a moment. "You don't need to worry you know? Your vision, or whatever it was, won't come true. I'll always except you."

He motioned over his shoulder, "Tell that to your aunt and uncle. Don't get me wrong they're great people, but it's pretty obvious how they really feel about me."

"Well you're not wrong. Uncle Jack is uncomfortable with the superhero thing, and aunt Alice is just protective."

He gave another low shrug of his shoulders. "Well it would help if I wasn't the only one ya know?"

She stopped walking for a second, but then continued. She knew very well what he meant by that. "Gar, I know how you feel seeing me like this," she motioned to herself and the new skin the holoring forced her to wear, "but I'm actually normal for a change. Can't you just let me enjoy it?"

He looked her over out of the corner of his eye. Yes he loved her violet hair and eyes and pale grey skin, but then again she wasn't horrible looking with black hair, blue eyes and a fair complexion.

A joking grin twitched at the side of his lip, "I guess you can enjoy it." He placed his hand on his chest, "I shall just remain your green studly boyfriend."

She rolled her eyes bumping into his shoulder. "That works for me I guess."

They took a few more laps before heading back to the house where Jack and Alice were waiting. "Did you two have a lovely walk?" She asked.

Raven snorted a laugh. "You would know, you watched us the whole time."

Her mouth fell opened in mock offense. "I was not."

"She was," Jack commented.

She playfully slapped him on the shoulder. "Fine I creeped them, but they're just so adorable. Especially when the tips of his ears turn red. Like right now."

"Alice," Raven folded her arms and glared, "remember what we said. No embarrassing him."

She grinned playfully. "Okay. Then I won't tell him you snore to even it out."

Beast Boy choked on his laughter. "Raven you snore?!"

Cheeks flaming she stormed into the house. "I do not!"

Alice called after her. "Oh goodness, I'm thinking about taking you down to the docks so that you can help guide ships through the fog."

Beast Boy laughed as he followed Raven into the house. "To bad my room was way to far away from yours or I woulda heard that." His teasing would have continued if he hadn't noticed Raven stop in her tracks and her shoulders begin shaking. "Raven, are you okay?"

She turned to face him, wiping her eyes, but there was no sadness in them. "Sorry," she went to him, wrapping her arms around his neck, "I just never imagined I'd actually want a parent embarrassing me in front of my boyfriend."

— _ **:0:—**_

Robin, Wildfire and Rose descended the stairway to the basement level of the tower. Cyborg and Sarah had been hard at work on the Towers computer systems and it was only a few moments ago that Robin had asked for a status report. Luckily this time Cyborg had news.

Hitting the base of the stairs they were met with the wet sounds of someone sniffling, as if they had been crying for some time.

"Looks like Cyborg got a little testy with someone else touching his machines." Rose smirked.

Robin shook his head. "I just hope he was gentle with her." Turning the corner they found Cyborg, standing outside the open doors of the computer room, quickly wiping his face of tears.

"Oh now this is just sad." Rose said with a laugh.

Cyborg finished wiping his eye and nose. "What this? This is nothing. My allergies were just acting up and I had to step out."

Just then someone called out. "Cyborg you can come back inside! I'm sorry I yelled at you!"

Ignoring the stares of his friends Cyborg stepped back into the computer room where Sarah was putting the finishing touches on fixing the claw marks on the machines.

"I knew you guys had a lot of enemies, but I didn't think Freddy Krueger was one of them." She placed her tools back into a bag and rolled down her sleeves.

"No it wasn't an earth feline, but a Vernathian turned Necromorph."

Sarah eye'd Wildfire oddly, but Cyborg put a hand on her shoulder. "He's new, and it's a long story for another time." He then turned back to Robin. "With most of these claw marks sealed up we should at least be able to get some of the basic systems back online."

"Why not get everything back up?" Rose asked.

"Your network is still to badly damaged from the ice and the attack." Sarah responded.

Robin put his chin in between his index finger and thumb. "Can we at least get the police scanners up and going in case the city is in danger?"

Sarah and Cyborg exchanged looks. "That should be simple enough." They went to the computers, Cyborg plugged some wires from his forearm into the network and went to work. "A little twist here, a little button pushing there,"

Sarah began typing on his forearm, "and here and here and boom." In a matter of seconds the machines began beeping and humming to life.

"Boo-yah! That is how you do it!" Cyborg and Sarah high fived each other.

"Nice job guys," Robin congratulated, but before anyone can get to excited there communicators began going off.

"What timing," Rose mumbled, "what is it?"

Robin looked down at his communicator, "Mad Mod's army at," he looked closer, "the mall?"

Wildfire gasped. "Koriand'r was at the mall!"

"With Drake and the Ice princess," Rose finished, "they should be able to handle Mod."

"True," Robin pocketed his communicator, "but we should go anyways to provide backup. Cyborg—"

"—stay here and keep going on the Tower. I got it."

Sarah elbowed him in the flesh of his arms, "WE got it."

Robin smirked before leaving for the garage. "Just be gentle with him, Sarah." Rose took Wildfire by the shoulder and both followed behind Robin, leaving the techs to their work.

— _ **:0:—**_

With Wildfires ability to fly still at a basic level he had to settle for riding with Robin on the back of his R-cycle. Rose on the other hand had her own black and orange colored motorbike of the same model. As soon as she moved in to the tower she had taken one of Robins older models and designed it to fit her needs, and color scheme. Zooming down the streets they came to the mall that the local PD and finished clearing. Meeting with the cops they told the Titans that a dragon was torching Mods toy soldier army, and were unsure how to proceed. Robin assured them that the dragon was with them and to stand down so they could take it from there.

Once they were inside the vacated mall Wildfire asked. "Where is my sister? The local law enforcement didn't mention seeing her."

"Drake's probably going all 'lone wolf' on them I'm sure they're fine." Rose waved off.

"Either way, stay alert." Robin cautioned, but stepping into the food court, any concerns were quickly settled.

Dragon Drake smashed the remaining robots head like it was a cantaloupe with his talons, before acknowledging the presence of the Titans. His diamond horned head turned towards them, wires and metal dangling from his jaws and anger flashing in his amber eyes.

"What took you so long?" He spat.

"Told you he had everything under control."

Robin ignored her. "Where's Starfire and Jacqueline?"

Drake snorted, kicking the robotic debris out of his way. "Some Beetles reject took them."

"My sister?!" Wildfire screeched, but Robin held him back. "Why didn't you go after them?"

Drake glared at the young Tamaranean, but he stood his ground. "I was occupied." He flinched in agony as he spread his wings to reveal large holes ripped into the membrane. "As you can clearly see." He folded his wings over himself before changing back into his human form.

An obnoxious British cackle sounded from the large screens above them. Static slowly gave way to the form of Mad Mod, sitting smuggly on his throne.

" 'Ello my duckies! Took you long enough."

Robin growled. "Where's our friends?!"

Mod "tsk tsk'd" wagging his finger. "Now Robin that's no way to tawk to 'ore eldes." The screen exploded when Robot parts that Drake had thrown exploded on impact. "Oy!"

They turned to another screen that Mods face was occupying. "I'm not in the mood for any more games," Drake groaned, "Just tell us where you are so I can turn you inside out."

Mod growled at the Titans before another grin began to form. "Oy, you want 'ore friends so badly? Then I'll show you where they are." He twirled the cane before smashing the red ruby with his thumb. The screen fizzled to another scene, this one of a map that led downtown.

"A warehouse ? How original." Rose rolled her eyes.

"Either way we have to save my sister, and miss Jacqueline."

Robin took a picture of the map with his communicator. "I agree. Titans Go!"

They sprinted from the mall back into the parking lot where their motorbikes waited. Robin and Wildfire hopped onto the R-Cycle as Rose stepped onto hers.

"Hold on," Drake stopped them, "I can't fly my dragon wings are shredded."

Rose tossed him a helmet. "Then hop on, I've got room."

Drake watched Robin and Wildfire speed off before looking from the helmet to the bike a few times. "Uh… on there?"

"Yeah, come on let's go." He hesitated again. "What's wrong?"

He motioned to the bike, "I just have this thing with…"

"Motorcycles?"

"And cars, and trains and … yeah. Why do you think I fly everywhere?"

She rolled her eyes and grabbed him by the collar of his jacket and tossed him onto the bike of her bike. "Nut up you puss and lets go."

— _ **:0:—**_

The R-cycle skidded to a stop, but Wildfire was already floating off the bike to prepare himself for battle.

"Hold on," Robin urged, "we have to be cautious. Mad Mod is a tricky villain and he's counting on us to be reckless."

Wildfire was only half listening as he tried to push himself a little higher off the ground. "I understand, but I just found my sister, I do not plan to lose her."

Robin grabbed him by his ankle and pulled him to the ground. "I get it, I'm worried to, but I've done this enough to know we need to be smart about this. Trust me we'll get them outta there."

Wildfire looked to the ground, "Galfore told me to trust him to," without looking back up he added, "I'm just tired of being away from my family, but if Koriand'r can trust you, so can I." Reluctantly Wildfire hung back, leaving him Robin to rethink his plan. Normally he would charge in guns blazing to rescue her, but it wasn't about him and what he wanted. He had Wildfire to look after and Starfire would never forgive him if anything happened to him on his watch.

Screeching tires pulled his thoughts back to earth.

"Sorry we're late," Rose removed her helmet, "someone has issues with motorbikes."

Drake's arms were around her waist so tightly, she was lucky he didn't snap her completely in half. "Your driving didn't do anything to ease my anxiety either."

"Now that they have joined us, are we ready to storm this building?" Wildfire was back in the air, eyes trained on the warehouse and ready to storm it.

Robin drew his bow staff. "You bet we are, right Titans."

"Yup," Rose pried the knights hands from around her waist.

"What she said."

"Then Titans Go!" Together they burst through the doors of the warehouse.

 **Here are some updates. The book was finished and submitted to some authors for reading. If deemed worthy they will work with me to get it ready to be sent to a publisher, so fingers crossed!**

 **read and review and we'll see you next time.**


	5. The English Invasion

**Updates might be few and far between for the next month. I've got a awesome opportunity that involves my art so I need to get cracking down on that. After October I should be back to a more consistent updating schedule. In the meantime enjoy this long hopefully interesting chapter.**

 **You know what to do.**

 **On with the show.**

 **Chapter 5: The English invasion**

Disoriented, Robin rolled over to his stomach. Letting out an audible groan he made an effort to push himself up to his hands and knees. Even through his gloved hands, he could feel the strange texture of cobblestone beneath him.

 _Cobblestone?_ He blinked a few times, rubbing his eyes behind his mask to try and get back some clarity. _Ugh what happened? The last thing I remember was stepping into the warehouse, then a bright light._ Gasping he got to his feet and felt around his face.

He frantically touched and pinched his face to see if he had aged, or if his mask had been removed, but to his relief found that he was still young and his mask was still in place. Now that he was no longer afraid that his mask had been taken, or his youth, he took a good look at his surroundings. What was once a warehouse had now become a complete, black and white London style city, just like that Fourth of July a few years ago.

"This isn't possible. No way an entire city fits inside warehouse. This must be another of Mods illusions. What do you guys think?" He looked around, "Uh, guys?"

— _ **:0:—**_

The surface of the ocean broke as Drake exploded from beneath the water. Coughing and hacking on the salty sea, he spun around in the water frantically in search of … well anyone.

"Rose! Wildfire! Robin!" Treading water in middle of the ocean, he was completely alone.

— _ **:0:—**_

"Robin! Wildfire!" Rose wandered the streets of the black and white style London, not finding neither hair nor scale of her team. "Drake! Ugh, Fan-freaking-tastic." Ear shattering feedback sounded from the sky, specifically from a screen atop of the Big Ben.

After the static faded, Mad Mods grinning face filled the television screen. " 'ello my duckies! Did you enjoy your quick nap?"

Robin snarled. "What is this?! Where are our friends?!"

Mod chuckled, "Wot'? You don' recognize jolly old London? But let's cut to the chase shall we?"

The screen fizzled before shifting to another scene. A close up shot of Starfire and Jacqueline showed them tied back to back, PCC's, and dangling over the side of Big Ben. They were hooked to a metal rod that connected to the six of the clock. " _As you can see, your friends are just fine, for now. If I may draw your attention to the hands of the clock."_ The large hand read twenty minutes til two thirty. " _As soon as the clock strikes the six of the clock, it will destroy the rod, sending your friends to 'her messy demise! Bet'a get movin' Titans. Clocks a-tickin!"_ After one more English style cackle, he disappeared from the screen that now only showed Starfire and Jacqueline struggling against their ropes.

Robin and Rose, from different ends of the city, took off in the direction of Big Ben. Neither one had any idea where the other was, but they knew were Starfire and Jacqueline were and they were the priority.

Rounding the corners in their different areas, they froze in their tracks. Two rows of toy soldiers had their weapons aimed at them.

Mod appeared onto the Big Ben screen again. " _Ready, aim,_ " the soldiers raised their weapons as Robin got into a defensive stance while Rose drew her blades.

" _Fire_!"

— _ **:0:—**_

Drake had heard the entire speech as if it had been a voice echoing from the sky. Continuing to tread water he spun around, but wasn't finding any sign of land.

"Okay… okay…" he breathed, "stay calm… stay calm… STAY FUCKING CALM!"

He knew it was irrational, to have a deep seated fear of the ocean, but rationality went right out the window when your terrified. He told everyone, that it stemmed from a trip he had taken by boat when he was young. Midway through the trip a storm broke out that had thrown overboard during the maelstrom. From the depths of the ocean he was attacked by an enormous sea beast that would have killed him had it not been for his father that saved his life.

Of course that wasn't the truth.

There was nothing down there. No sea monster, nothing, just blackness.

It terrified him. Not being able to see a thing, being tossed around and suffocating from the ocean around him, and the terror of thinking at any second he could be attacked by something from the depths. Once he was back into the boat he told everyone he saw something down there, but he hadn't. He thought that if he had told the truth he would be humiliated for being scared of absolutely nothing.

To this day he had only told a handful of people the truth.

His eyes shot open.

He had maneuvered himself to his back and was now floating, but the realization pushed aside his panic. Though his terror was giving way to anger, this momentary lapse from fear helped him to think a bit more clearly. Anger would have to wait, Now was the time to figure out his situation.

He made a quick change of costume to the dragon and made sure to heal the holes in his wings.

"Note to self. Heal the wings before getting on a motorcycle with friggen Rose. Although she did have a nice tummy—FOCUS!" He flipped over and began flapping his wings, but unfortunately just pitifully slapped against the water not giving him any lift at all.

"Of course." He tried to jump out of the water, but looked more like a dying fish on land. "I'll let this Mad Mod live unless he has this recorded, then he's dead." Unable to think of anything else, he began swimming in…. well any direction. His wings made the perfect fins to propel him towards, hopefully, something.

— _ **:0:—**_

"Wrench…. screwdriver…. swab," Sarah wiped a cloth across Cyborgs forehead, "sandwich." He opened his mouth only to receive a wrench. "Well ha, I needed this wrench anyways." He said over the metal.

She rolled her eyes. "Next time it'll be over your head."

He removed the wrench. "Geez girl, settle down. Just messing with ya." He tightened one more bolt on the machine in front of him. "Alrighty. Try it now."

She moved to a keyboard, put on a pair of glasses and typed a few commands. "Good news is you now have some basic systems online. Bad news, nothing you actually need, like the towers security."

He "hmphed". "Let's just hope every villain in the city doesn't get wind of this." He removed a few circuit boards and began to manually dry them.

"Yes, last thing you want are the villains thinking you forgot all about them. Wouldn't want that now would we?"

Cyborg looked up from his work, noticing that Sarah's demeanor had shifted considerably. Her mouth was a tight line and she did her best to avoid his gaze, but her shifted shoulders suggested she was aware that he was staring.

He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. He knew this conversation was coming, so might as well get it over with.

His eye moved to the floor. "Sarah, since …. ya know …. we're here, and alone, and… uh…" He ventured a glance in her direction and saw that she was eyeing him expectantly over the rim of her glasses, but wasn't saying a thing, leaving Cyborg to trip over his words. "I mean we were talking, then you went away to school, then we were talking, then I had missions, then we were talking again, but less. Then Um… Ya know you could contribute if you want."

She shrugged, "No. All sounds about right, but you left out the part where we stopped talking all together."

He rolled his shoulders. "Well I was, ya know, busy."

"Before you left, You mentioned that you were equipped with every computerized communications device on the planet, and some from other planets, so I didn't expect 'being to busy' would be an issue." She stepped away from the keyboard and folded her arms, staring blankly at him. She didn't seem angry, or upset, just hurt. "I haven't heard from you for months until today and the only reason I came is because I don't want 'Jump cities defenders' to be unable to defend. But you still have some explaining to do."

Thoroughly chastised, his metal head hung low in shame. "I know I did. I guess I was just… um…"

"Let me guess. Ashamed? Self conscious about the fact that your half metal? A superhero and I am but a mere human? Am I close? When are you going to realize I don't care about any of that?"

His eye was wide with shock, but honestly wasn't to surprised that she was able to see through him as easily as she did. Like a miracle from heaven his communicator on his forearm began buzzing. She huffed with irritation and stomped away as Cyborg answered his communicator.

"This is Cy—"

" _Cyborg!"_ Robin shouted back. He was backflipping, kicking and hitting against Mods army, while he held his communicator. " _We need backup!"_

Cyborg looked past Robin at the battlefield around him and noticed that he seemed alone, but was battling with the same backdrop the last time they encountered Mod. "Rob, where's everyone else?"

He slammed his staff against a robots head. " _We've been separated. It's another of Mods illusions. You need to hack the warehouse and shut it down!"_

Sarah had snuck up behind him and was looking down at his arm. "Can you even do that?" She asked Cyborg.

Cyborg scrunched his face in thought, but before he could respond He caught the sight of a toy soldier sneaking up behind his team leader while he was distracted. "Rob behind you!" Luckily just as Robin had turned around and was about to get blasted, a pair of blades sliced through the robot, cutting it to pieces.

" _Hey Cy,"_ said Rose over her shoulder, " _you planning on helping?"_ She jumped back into the fray while Robin continued to plead for Cyborgs help.

"The computers in my room should be powered so I can help that way."

" _Just hurry!"_ Then the feed cut to black.

Cyborg stood up and headed for the doors. "Sarah divert the power to my room. I should be able to hack that warehouse and take out Mods illusion."

"You got it," she put her glasses back on and went back to the keyboards, "but we're not done talking."

He paused a moment at the door. "For what it's worth, I am sorry." With that he stepped out heading upstairs to his room.

— _ **:0:—**_

Dragon Drake was exhausted. He had been swimming in one direction for what felt like hours, but there was still no sign of land.

"I'm… going to kill… that …. Brit…" He gasped. While he had been swimming he had been thinking about his predicament, and how it had been specifically tailored to him. He had his own theories about that, but for now he had to figure out how to get out of it.

Look up was nothing but sky. Looking around was nothing but the surface of the ocean, and looking down nothing but darkness.

"Where the hell am I?! I can't go up, I can't go down! How do I—" He thought for a moment. He couldn't go up, but he hadn't tried going down.

 _But there's nothing down there?_ He wondered. _At least nothing I can see… so for all I know…._

He took a few breaths to ready himself. _Just keep your eyes closed. There's nothing down there. There's nothing down there. There's nothing down there._ He took a deep breath and dove straight down.

— _ **:0:—**_

Rose and Robin stood amongst the mangled pieces of robots, making double sure that all of their opponents were down. Robin would be remiss to say that he was a little embarrassed that Rose had beaten her horde of robots before him, but in his defense he was distracted. Not a great excuse but still. He needed to find Drake and Ryand'r and save Jacqueline and Starfire.

" _Tick tock, Robin!"_ Mad Mod sounded through the screens. " _No time to doddle!"_

"Let's go!" Robin took off towards the clock tower with Rose right behind.

"What about Drake and Ryand'r?"

"We'll find them after we get Starfire and Jacqueline safe and sound." Running through the streets, more and more bots attacked. Thankfully Rose was there to help clear the way for him to continue until he came to the tower.

" _Well look 'ho joined the party."_ Mod chuckled. " _To bad it's to lil' to late!"_ Robin kept his eyes skyward towards the tower, and with one movement, the large hand broke apart the rod, sending the two hurtling towards the ground.

"STARFIRE!" The roof, made to look like the sky, broke apart into pieces sending water and a dragon towards the cobblestone ground. Robin was puzzled by the dragon and the water, but threw that aside. "DRAKE! STARFIRE JACQUELINE!"

Thinking quickly Drake searched for the girls, once he found them he dove through the falling water to grab them. .

"We need to get outta here!" Rose grabbed at Robins arm and was about to shout the same thing up at Drake, but Robin cut her off.

"We still don't know where Ryand'r is or how to get out of here."

"We're be useless if all that water drowns us." She countered, but by now Drake had landed beside them.

Jacqueline was still fighting the ropes, grunting and snarling in an almost animal-like fashion, but only served to make Starfire uncomfortable against their bonds. "Why won't my powers work?!" Jacqueline growled.

"It's the collar," Drake responded, "it renders one powerless."

"Yes, now please cease the struggling. Your making it rather uncomfortable." Starfire whimpered.

Jacqueline rolled her eyes, "Just get me outta of this so I can stop the water." The Titans looked at her oddly, but Drake proceeded to do as she asked. With the collar gone and the ropes cut, she stood headed for the falling water. She raised her hands and began to blow from her mouth. Slowly the water began to freeze over.

Meanwhile Robin's communicator began to beep. " _Rob, it's Cyborg."_

"Report. Did you infiltrate Mods systems?"

" _I've hacked into Mods mainframe. It was tricky but I was able to find him. And more then that."_ The city began to fade until the warehouse began to take shape around them, all except for the makeshift tower in the center. " _That's where Mod is hiding."_

Starfire placed her hand onto Robin shoulder. "Robin, Where's Ryand'r?"

Robin took a head count. Rose, Drake and Jacqueline were there and safe, yet Ryand'r was nowhere to be found. "My guess is Mod has him."

Starfire looked from Robin then towards the Tower, her fists hands balling into fists. "I will not lose my brother again." Robin tried to calm her down, but she had already flown off. Rose ran off behind her, grabbing Jacqueline by the hood of her sweater as she passed.

"Damn it!" Robin was about to follow, but was held back.

Drake, human again, motioned for him to remain. "Robin we need to talk."

"It has to wait. We have to go after them."

Drake held on a bit tighter. "Robin, they'll be fine, but I need to talk to you about all this."

Robin looked at him strangely. "What are you talking about?"

Drake released his grip, his tone serious. "I think I know what's going on."

— _ **:0:—**_

Mad Mod was cursing beneath his breath, smashing and destroying his equipment when Starfire burst through the doors. He spun around, shaking violently in fear as Starfire, eyes and hands glowing viciously, floated towards him.

"Where. Is. Ryand'r?"

Mod put up his hands in surrender. "N-Now let's be reasonable dear."

Growling she shot towards him, grabbed him by the collar and pinned him against the wall. "Where is my Ryand'r?!"

"Starfire!" She turned her head to the door where Jacqueline and Rose were standing, Rose was twirling a small knife between her fingers. "I thought I was 'bad cop'?"

"Alright! Alright!" Mod screamed. "I don't know where the lad is! I was just doing what I was told! All I had to do was capture you lot and put you through my games!"

Starfire pushed him further into the wall. "Who told you too?!"

Suddenly Robin's green gloves hands grabbed her by the shoulders and tried to pull her off of the British villain. "Starfire get off of him!"

Without moving an inch against his pathetic human strength she responded. "Not until he tells us where Ryand'r is."

"Starfire let him go!" Drake bellowed loud enough that Starfire had to look over her shoulder at the knight. "Let him go, and I'll find out where he is. If anyone can get him to talk it's me."

Starfire narrowed her eyes, but was genuinely considering what he was suggesting. After another moment of contemplation she released Mad Mod from her iron grip. Robin held her by the shoulders and gently guided her to the door.

"Starfire, You Rose and Jacqueline search the tower, and the warehouse for him. Drake will get what we need from Mod." Starfire stared back at him with a rage he had only seen a handful of times until she finally stalked out of the room.

Rose looked over her shoulder at Drake. "Save some for me." She took Jacqueline, who seemed like she wanted to watch, and did as they were instructed. Robin closed the door behind them and locked it.

Mod curled in the corner, but only Robin moved to subdue him by handcuffing him to the wall. "Look I-I'm telling you—"

"Shut up," Drake snapped, "I'm not gonna touch you. I just needed them gone." Drake began to dig into one of the pouches on his belt. Robin watched him work, noticing that through his movements he was extremely agitated, even so much as to fumble with what he was doing.

"Are you okay to do this?" Robin asked.

"I'm fine," came his quick and curt response, "do you have that laser thing?" Robin, remembering the conversation before, removed the laser and began drawing on the ceiling.

They continued setting up in silence and once they were finished Drake was kneeling before a small pile of herbs and powders in the center of the room. Robin could still see how disturbed he was.

"Drake?"

"I said I'm fine. Let's just do this and find Ryand'r." He paused before removing a small throwing knife from his boot. "I just hope I'm wrong." He made a long cut along the palm of his hand, muttered some words in Latin, and finally dropped a lit match onto the powder.

Heaviness. A thick chill in the air, and a familiar presence.

"Hello dears," The English lord of hell straightened his suit, flicking off dust and hair, "it's been a while." His eyes flashed from a blood red back to their dark brown when he looked back and forth between Drake and Robin.

Drake walked over to Mad Mod. "I'm gonna ask you a question and your gonna answer me honestly."

Landon flashed his familiar smirk. "Your so cute when you try to tell me what to do."

Drake continued, kicking Mod in the leg, "Are you in League with this guy?"

Landon glanced at Mod then back, "What would make you think I've aligned myself with him. Come now Drake you know me better then that." Landon stuffed his hands into his pockets and narrowed his eyes. "PS, I thought you said the next time you saw me you'd treat me like the demon I am."

Drake looked up at the ceiling. "I am." Landon followed his line of sight until he was looking at a devils trap etched into the ceiling. A symbol that rendered Landon powerless. Looking back down, his eyes flashed red, this time in anger. "Now you know how it feels to have your weakness exploited."

Landon, still in a fury, raised a brow. "I Don't follow."

Drake approached as closely as he could without breaching the circle. "Mod trapped me in some sort of eternal ocean. Only a handful of people know about my fear of the ocean and they're either dead, or you."

A few minutes of silence passed before the side of Landon's lip twitched upwards. "That's why we don't talk about our deepest fears darling."

The two began a staring contest that seemed to drag on for hours until Robin finally spoke. "Why? Why work with Mod?"

Landon glared hellfire and growled in an otherworldly tone. "He sold his soul to me making him my hellbitch. Thus he works FOR me, not WITH me."

Mod let out a nervous laugh. "Best deal I ever made sir. 'Ow else could I ever be this gorgeous—" Landon flicked his wrist and Mod suddenly began gagging and choking, unable to speak.

"You've done enough you bloody twat. The less I have to hear that atrocious accent the better."

"Enough of this shit," Drake interrupted, "where's Ryand'r?"

Landon's eyes shifted back to their normal state. "Who—"

THWACK!

Drake threw his fist into Landon's cheek that sent him to the ground. "CUT THE SHIT! We know Mod brought us here and now he's gone! Where is he?!"

Landon, anger burning in his eyes. "I just had this suit dry cleaned." Drake took a step forward to hit him again, but Landon caught his fist. "Enough." Landon tossed Drake against the wall with a slam.

Robin got into an attack position, aiming th tip of his bow staff inches from Landon's nose. "What do you want with Ryand'r?"

Landon responded by rolling his eyes. "I don't have any bloody time for this." He reached into his suit coat and removed a small detonator that looked like a garage door opener. "Rest assured as soon as I get what I want I'll return the boy, you have my word. Until then I would appreciate if you stayed out of my way."

Robin bared his teeth. "That's not happening. Not tell us where he is—"

"Or what?" Black shadows began creeping along the walls, emanating from the demon lord as he spoke in a low, but calm menacing tone. "You think you can threaten me? Oh my dear Robin that's not how this works. I speak, you do." The shadows reached the devils trap cracking and breaking the symbol officially releasing him.

Robin leapt back. "How? You should be powerless."

Landon only smiled, but ignored his question. "As fun as all this has been, I have things to do." He pressed the button on the remote and tossed it aside. "In the meantime you'll be quite occupied. Toodles." The shadows retreated, wrapping him in a cocoon of blackness and he was gone.

Drake pulled himself to his feet. "What … happened?"

Robin stuffed away his staff and helped Drake. "He took off, but he has Ryand'r."

He looked at him in confusion. "What? Why?"

Before Robin could respond his communicator began buzzing. The caller was Cyborg.

"Cyborg, Ryand'r was taken we need to—"

However the one on the other side wasn't Cyborg. " _Robin it's Sarah! Something …. something is happening to Cyborg! I don't know what, but he's not moving and…! You need to come back!"_


	6. Stone

**I'll start with the bad news then end this chapter with some good news.**

 **As you know I've been working on a book that was submitted into a competition to hopefully get picked and eventually be presented to eventual publishers. However I was not chosen so back to the drawing board.**

 **stay tuned to the end of the chapter for the good news.**

 **Chapter 6: Stone**

Ryand'r's head felt as if it had been beaten a few times over with a hammer, a pressure that intensified as he slowly began to wake up. Through the ringing in his ears, he was able to hear the muffled sounds of voices around him. At first he wasn't able to make out what they were saying, but could tell they weren't talking to him rather to each other. He took a few deep breaths to clear the thudding in his head until the voices became a bit more clearer.

"... you understand that this is a bit of a unique situation right sir?" One of them asked. The voice sounded both intelligent, and quiet compared to the other.

"Of course I'm aware Chancellor, but thanks to Mod's idiocy our time table has changed." This voice was confident, leading Ryand'r to believe he was in charge. He also talked funny, not like the other earthlings he'd encountered.

"But his alien physiology makes him a little tougher to question with our usual methods."

"I know that, you bloody Twit," the one that talked funny was quiet for a moment as if he was thinking about his next words carefully, "which is why I'm letting you off the leash."

There was silence for another moment longer before the other spoke again, with a bit more excitement to his voice. "You mean it sir?"

"Your one of the best, present company excluded, in the art of torture and seeing as we're on a time crunch we can't afford to waste any more time."

Ryand'r struggled to open his eyes, but his vision was blurry. However he was able to see a blackened shape exit the room. The other shape, appearing to be dressed in white, approached him. They got inches from his face and smiled.

"Well well, look who's up?"

A sudden jolt surged through Ryand'r's body, waking him up instantly, but also helped him to remember what had happened just under an hour ago. He had gone to the warehouse with the others, but once inside they were inside they were assaulted with a white light, the next thing he knew he had woken up here.

Ryand'r grit his teeth and clenched his fists. He was strapped down onto a metal chair with shackles on his wrists, ankles, torso and neck. The man in front of him, Chancellor, was bald with a small round head and beady, excited eyes dressed in a white coat.

"Hello Ryand'r. Did I say that right? I've never been in the presence of an alien before. This is a real treat." His beady eyes looked down at the shackles. "Don't worry, you won't be going anywhere so you might as well sit back and relax."

Chancellor moved to the other end of the room and began fiddling with different odds an ends that Ryand'r recognized as various torture devices. He remembered this man asking questions and electrocuting him when he wasn't getting what he wanted.

"Go ahead," Ryand'r spoke confidently, "I'm not telling you anything."

Chancellor chuckled darkly, "I wouldn't have expected you too. Mister Landon asked me to use non lethal methods at first, but now has given me the go ahead to remove the kid gloves." He returned with a wooden rod and stuffed it between Ryand'r's teeth. "So now we can start to have some real fun." He smiled and flicked a nearby switch, producing a horrendous scream for the young alien boy.

— _ **:0:—**_

 **San Francisco**

Beast Boy was grumbling to himself on the way to the bathroom to wash his hands, it's not that he minded cleanliness it's just that he never washed his hands for dinner before, Why now? Oh right. Trying to make a good impression on the family. Lathering his hands under the facet he paused a moment to look himself in the mirror. Minus his skin, ears and fangs, he could not have looked any less like a superhero.

No uniform, just neat and clean shorts and a T-shirt, with his hair a bit more combed, and fangs tucked behind his lips, he appeared to be the typical, all American kid. You know, besides the obvious. Another difference was the weight on his shoulder seemed to have lessened, no longer was he burdened with the heaviness being a superhero provided.

 _Huh? So this is what it's like?_

Finishing up he went to the dining room where everyone was waiting for him.

"Garfield, I saved you a seat!"

He gulped looking at the empty space beside a bouncing Mary-Beth, but luckily Raven was on the other side of the chair she was motioning too.

"Thanks M." He took a seat beside her, but made sure to sit himself a bit closer to his girlfriend.

At the head of the table Jack cleared his throat to get everyone's attention. "Everyone hold hands so we can say grace. Sorry Garfield, but no tofu tonight."

Beast Boy laughed nervously, unsure if Jack was joking or not, but followed everyone's lead and took those beside him by the hand. During the prayer, he cracked his eye open at Raven's hand. It still felt like her, a few animals were very sensitive to the touch after all, it just didn't look like her. How he'd give anything to see her natural grayish skin tone. It was weird, but in some way it just kind of fit so nicely against his green flesh. The idea made him smile, and he was sure the goofy grin was still on his face as the prayer ended.

"..amen." He and Raven opened their eyes and lifted their heads, however the rest of the table seemed frozen in their places. Heads down and hands joined.

"Uh, Hello?"

They called to them, poked at them, waved their hands in front of their faces, but every member of the Williams family were stuck.

Jokingly he folded his arms and quirked a brow. "Raven, what did you do?"

She smacked his shoulder. "I didn't do anything. I don't know what this is."

He rubbed his shoulder. "Well I didn't do it."

" 'Course you didn't mate, I did." They turned around in their chairs, finding John Constantine strolling through the home to the table, and grabbed a piece of bread from the bread basket.

"Dude!" He wasn't sure why exactly, but Beast Boy was actually excited to see him. "What are you doing here? Gonna set Raven free for good behavior."

She smacked him again. "No, Gar that's not why he's here," though she was sure of that, she looked at Constantine with hopefully eyes, "right?"

"Sorry love. Far as I know you'll have to serve your sentence." His chewing on the roll slowed as his demeanor changed, "However, and this is the bad news, I'm here cuz the League will grant you some 'time off', if you will."

"Sweet!" Beast Boy nearly jumped out of his chair with excitement, but Constantine's mood change wasn't lost on Raven.

She stood from her chair, ignoring her boyfriends elatedness, and approached Constantine. "John, what's going on? What's happened?"

Those questions brought Beast Boy back to reality and he too finally noticed how that he had seemed much more solemn.

Constantine rolled his shoulders. "It's, uh, it's about your friend, Victor Stone. There's been an incident and you both need to come with me. It might even be necessary that you use your powers love."

They stood there with jaws dropped and hearts slowed. A few moments passed before Beast Boy balled his fists, fang digging into his lip and ears leaning back.

"What happened? What happened to my best friend?"

— _ **:0:—**_

 **Gotham city**

Silas Stone proceeded through his typical end of the day routine for shutting down his work station at S.T.A.R. labs. With everything powered down, he left his office area and headed for the exit. He waved goodbye to his fellow employees moving down the white halls, keeping his eyes and thoughts ahead. Though his job was anything but ordinary, or easy, some days it felt like a typical nine to five job.

With a heavy sigh found himself surprisingly looking forward to a quiet night consisting of a TV dinner and late night television.

 _Living the American dream_ , he sighed.

Feet from the exit, he felt an unusual, chilling pressure begin to tighten around his chest. Thinking it was just minor chest aches, he decided to ignore it, at least until a black and white hole appeared in front of him. He leaped backwards, watching with large eyes, eyes that got larger once the Boy Wonder stepped out of the abyss.

Robin approached hastily, but Silas simply held up his hand to stop him. "I'm sorry Robin I can't."

Silas attempted to move past him, but Robin stood in his way. "You have no idea what I was going to say, or ask."

Silas didn't bother meeting his masked eyes as he tried to move around him. "The only reason your here is because something is wrong with Victor, and he has made it very clear that he wants nothing to do with me."

Robin grabbed him by his shoulder. "Please, you have—"

Silas ripped his arm away. "I'm sorry, but I can't."

"Mister Stone." He stopped in his tracks when a gravelly tone called his attention back to the black hole. A cloaked figure stepped from the darkness, white power laced eyes that held kept him from moving away. "Please." She moved to the side of the hole and waved her energy encrusted hand. A large round disk, carrying the heavy form of his bionic son.

His breath caught in his throat. His metal parts were starting to flake and corrode, losing all color, sheen and power. That wasn't the worst of it though. Blood was seeping from seams were his flesh met metal, his eyes, nose and mouth. As Silas looked over his son his attention was drawn to black tendrils from the disk had wrapped themselves around his body.

He reached out to touch one of them. "Don't touch that." A green skinned young man stepped up beside him with his hands on his shoulder. "Those are helping to keep him, um . ."

Unable to finish, Silas was able to put the pieces together. "She's helping to keep him stable?" Pointed ears lowered, the green your nodded.

One last individual came from the portal. A young blonde haired woman dressed in an orange turtle neck with dark glasses resting on top of her head. "Mister Stone. My name is Sarah Simms and we need to work fast if we're going to save him."

Silas looked from her to his son, seeing his flesh and metal quickly deteriorate before him. Again.

"I . . . I can't—"

Another black tendril, coming from the cloaked girl, wrapped itself around his neck and pinned him against the wall. She floated towards him, white eyes now red and ablaze with rage as her lips curled into a savage snarl.

" **You will use your talents to save him,"** she growled in voice that was clearly not her own, " **he is good and pure and I will not allow him to perish because of your pathetic family squabble!"**

"Raven!" Green claws dug into her arm and pulled her to the ground, instantly snapping her out of her hellish rage. He led her away from Silas, and regardless of how he had seemingly calmed her, her eyes still flickered dangerously towards him.

Robin stepped towards him while he rubbed the darkness away from his neck. "Silas, please. I know this is hard, but if there is a chance you can save him you have to take it."

The supine Cyborg suddenly erupted into a violent coughing fit that spouted blood and saliva and brought everyone to his side. Forgetting about any reservations, his fatherly instincts took hold.

"Come with me, we need to get him to my lab." Silas hurriedly moved down the hall with Robin and the others behind him.

"Mister Stone I can help you," Sarah urged, but he only shook his head.

"I know his systems inside and out. I built them, I can fix whatever is wrong." They came to his laboratory and he began switching on his machines. "Set him over there." He motioned to a large open space where his son was lowered to. Looking over his equipment, he quickly realized he was going to need assistance to save his life. "Sarah, right? Begin hooking these up to his access ports." He handed Sarah some cables and she went about to work.

"What do you need from us?" Robin asked.

Silas didn't look up from the computers he was furiously typing at. "Excuse us while we work." Without acknowledging them any further he moved around his lab in the attempts to save his son.

— _ **:0:—**_

Once again Robin found himself in the unusual situation of being pushed to the side and having to wait. He looked back into the lab, trying to see if there was anything he could do, but his attention was drawn elsewhere.

Once Constantine had removed the Power Canceling bracelet from off of her ankle, Raven quickly donned her Cloak and Titans uniform, along with Beast Boy, and had teleported themselves to the tower. He had given her as much time as was needed, so she was going to use it to the fullest.

However going so long without using her powers had made her demonic half antsy and ready to lash out once the leash was off. The strain of keeping such a powerful force back was beginning to take its toll on her.

She braced herself against the wall, kneeling over and breathing heavily as if she was about to vomit.

Beast Boy stood over her, rubbing her back and speaking comforting words.

"You okay Raven?"

" **I told you I'm fine you green—!"** She snapped her four eyes shut and continued trying to steady her breathing. "I just need to meditate for a while."

Not at all put off by her words or disturbing actions, he nodded his head and helped lead her out of the lab. Looking of his shoulder at his team leader, a silent communication passed between them that all was well and Raven was in good hands. I just

Unsure of what else to do he opened his communicator. "Robin to Starfire come in," nothing, "Starfire?" A few more minutes and still nothing. He shut his eyes and sighed,m before typing on his communicator again. "Robin to Drake, do you copy?"

The screen lit up revealing the Dragon Knight back at Titans tower. "This is Drake, what's happening?"

Robin glanced over his shoulder into Silas's laboratory. "Right now they're just trying to keep him alive, once he's stable they'll find out what's wrong with him. What about Starfire?"

Drake shrugged a shoulder. "Like you said, once she was sure Cyborg would be in good hands, she took off into the city to find her brother."

Robin closed his eyes and shook his head solemnly. "She should be here with us."

"Can you blame her though? Yes she loved Cyborg as much as she loves you, but she just found her brother. I doubt she want to lose him again."

"And Mod has no idea where he is."

Drake eyes went dark. "Trust me, if he had any idea where Ryand'r was, he would have told me."

Robin left it at that. The less he knew the better. "Well I guess the only thing now is help her search. There isn't much we can do here." Drake have a silent nod. "What about you? Do you need to talk?"

Drake's response was quick and curt. "Work now, talk later." Then the screen went black.

— _ **:0:—**_

Drake tossed his communicator onto the counter once he was finished with it. As if a weight had settled onto his neck, his head hung from his shoulders as he leaned against the counter and released a long held breath.

"How's Cy?" Rose, who had been standing on the other side of the kitchen, asked.

He didn't lift his head to respond. "You've been here the whole time, you heard our conversation, you know how he is."

She tilted her head in a shrug. "True. Now how are you?"

He knew why she was asking so he responded, "Landon might be an ass, but he was always loyal and held on to a sense of honor and humanity. This just . . . Isn't him."

She looked at him with deep sympathy in her blue eyes. "Guess you didn't know him as well as you think you did." She folded her arms across her chest as if to guard herself. "I know how that goes."

He had a feeling she was referring to her own father, but before he could discuss the matter further they were interrupted when Jacqueline entered the common room. She didn't need to announce herself, rather it was the icy chill she was radiating that drew their attention. Her expression was a chilling mixture of anger and a small amount of hurt.

Her brown eyes darted to Rose. "Rose can you excuse us? I need to talk with Trip."

Rose glanced at Drake, having forgotten that he had changed his name for her sake. He nodded, giving her the go ahead to leave them alone.

"I need to join Starfire on the search for Ryand'r anyways." She left the common room, but not before shooting a warning glare at Jacqueline that she returned with one of her own.

Once rose had gone, the two remaining began a minutes long staring contest, Drake anxiously, and nervously waiting for her to begin.

Finally, "My mother, grandmother, even aunt and uncle, used to tell me stories of my father. Drake Daniels the Dragon Knight. They told me how he was a hero, a warrior, and a great man, and how he would have been a great father." Her eyes narrowed at him, "But that can't be you right? What are the odds of two from that time being frozen, waiting for our sleep to end?" The question was rhetorical, but she had paused as if she was expecting an answer.

She continued. "Besides your name is Trip right? You wouldn't give a false one?" Once again a pause, but Drake finally noticed that she was gripping tightly to a small box in her hand. "She also told me about how she knew he was going to propose to her and how the ring was in the shape of a flower with petals like snowflakes."

She tossed the box to him. "Your room was simple to find. I Just followed your scent. The ring was a bit more difficult."

Drake opened the box to see the ring that was meant for Elsa. A ring in the shape of a flower with the petals as snowflakes. He glanced back at her, drowning in the tension that had settled between them. He snapped the box shot and stepped forward as if to speak, but she stopped him.

"Before you say anything, you need to know that I don't want anything from you, especially an explanation. I've stopped dreaming about my father coming home to me and my mother a long time ago. I'm not some little girl looking for her daddy to walk through the doors to tuck me in at night, or to surprise me for my birthday. I was raised by my mother, my aunt and uncle, and grandma Mal. They are my family, and your just the one that helped create me, and that doesn't make you my father. Am I clear?"

A torrent of emotion slammed into him like a cannon blast. As long as he could remember he had always wanted a family. A wife and children to call his own, to love and to hold. Now here he was, with his flesh and blood standing before him, and she wanted nothing to do with him as a member of her family. He could feel his heart shattering inside of him, but could he blame her? After all what do you say to the child you abandoned? If he thought about it, her request wasn't unreasonable, it was quite fair, but he wanted more.

He nodded once and placed the box with the ring onto the counter, but hadn't had the courage to look at her yet. "Then I suppose I have nothing to say to you on the matter."

She folded her arms, an action that reminded him of what Rose had just done. To protect and guard herself. "I guess not."

Drake looked back at her, "So what now?"

She shrugged. "I guess I'll help look for Ryand'r and wait to hear how the big guys doing?"

He raised a brow. "Didn't think you'd wanna stick around?"

She turned halfway to the door. "Well, he makes good barbecue, and I like to eat…. so what?" Without another word she turn on her heel and walked off.

He heard her footsteps echo down the hall and out of earshot before he collapsed onto a nearby chair. Fingers threading through his hair he began to tug at his brown locks until he could feel a small amount of pain. What he wouldn't give to just explode right then and there and destroy everything in sight.

Strangely he suddenly felt as if a light was slicing through the dark clouds hanging over him. It was so strong he looked up, looking for an outside source to the light. His mouth dropped in surprise at the familiar angelic presence before him.

"Kole? What are you doing here?"

Kole Weathers looked down at her shuffling feet in her knee high boots. "Well I was, um—"

"Oh god, Did you hear all that?"

"No!" She said quickly, but, "okay maybe a little. But I tried not to." He snorted a laugh. She continued. "Do you wanna—"

"Why are you here?"

He didn't mean to sound so harsh, but he knew what she was gonna say and didn't want to discuss anything that happened in the last few hours. She knew he didn't mean it, but she narrowed her eyes anyways, until he apologized.

She took a breath and released it slowly. "I think I'm in trouble, and I didn't know who to go to."

 **good news time.**

 **Move been working a lot on my art and have finally partnered with a t shirt and design company to get my work out there on shirts and prints. It's a small family owned one but it's a start. That's taken up a lot of time and hopefully next month once it's over I'll be able to show some of the work I submitted.**

 **Review please and we'll see ya next time.**


	7. Don't fear the Reaper

**This chapter actually took a while to come up with, but once I figured it out, it only took me a two days to write haha. I'm excited for this chapter and how you all will react.**

 **So enjoy.**

 **on with the show.**

 **Chapter 7: Don't fear the Reaper**

His eyes, though they stung from sweat and grime, examined carefully the line of young men before him. His muscles throbbed horribly, but months of practice and training prepared him for the pain and agony he put himself through willingly. He cast a curious glance to his left towards the sounds of the stadium. The cheering and screaming sounded so distant to him, but he was sure that even the Justice League Watchtower floating in space could hear the roaring crowd.

All the cheering, all the screaming, was for one person. One person whose responsibility it was to lead his team to victory.

"Victor! Victor! Victor! Victor!"

With adrenaline and his fans fueling him, he made the calls before yelling a single, "HIKE!"

With the ball tightly gripped in his hands, and victory within his grasp, he took off. His eyes remained on the goalposts, his teammates clearing the way, allowing him a chance to run and not once did he stop until he heard the eruption of screams and cheers that ripping through the night air. A loud and clear indication that his team had one.

He slammed the ball into the ground before removing his helmet, shouting to the heavens in victory like a gladiator that had defeated his opponents in the ring.

Victor spun around, ready to high five, slap, jump and cheer with his teammates, but was met with a sudden silence. In one moment the cheers, the screams, adrenaline and chaos of the game vanished leaving him standing in the middle of the field alone.

Victor looked behind him at the goal posts that were now so far away. "Didn't I just score though? I was over there just a second ago?" He looked around at the empty bleachers and grassy field, "And where'd everyone go?"

He called out for his teammates, his parents and even his cheerleader girlfriend, "Marcy!" But there was no response. "What the hell."

He paused. He was now facing the bleachers and could see the shape of a man sitting casually at the bottom steps. He had a bag of popcorn and was eating without a care in the world as if it wasn't odd to be sitting alone.

With not much else by way of choice, Victor walked towards the man, not at all feeling threatened or unsafe. As he got closer he could see that the man was dark skinned like himself but older, much older. With aged wrinkles around his eyes and mouth from smiling and short curly grey hair.

Victor felt a shot of excitement. He recognized him. "Grandpa! You made it!"

His grandfather, who he remembered his name to be Henry, chuckled, smiling a warm and tender smile. "I wouldn't miss this for the world." He said in a raspy tone. Victor remembered that his grandpa used to be a smoker. "This is the big one after all. After this and it's off to college with a full ride."

Victor took a seat beside him, letting out a breath that he had been holding once he had realized he was alone. Speaking of.

"Hey this may sound weird, but where is everyone? Mom? Dad?"

Henry popped of few more kernels into his mouth. "Went home. Just you and me son."

Victor looked at Henry confused. "Went home? But…" He stared off into the distance, his eyes glazing over as a memory took hold. "That's not … right." Flashes began to form before his eyes. His mother and father jumping up and down with pure joy at his touchdown, his girlfriend wrapping her arms around his neck, his team dumping gatorade on him.

He didn't remember an empty stadium. In fact he didn't even remember his grandpa being there.

"Wait a second." He got to his feet looking down at Henry with horror. "Your not my grandpa. He died when I was a kid."

Henry smiled. "True. But doesn't mean he wasn't here."

Victor was now even more confused and terrified. "He? Who-who are you?"

Henry pursed his lips and took a deep breath. "Never and easy way to say this." He released his breath slowly. "Your dying Victor, and I'm here to take you home."

Victor felt as if a truck had slammed into him. "N-no. Your-your … I-I'm…" Suddenly more images blazed before his eyes.

Titans tower. Destroyed computers. Sarah Simms. Mad Mod. Pain. Pure, horrible pain.

He stumbled backwards as the memories shot into him like lightning, and fell to his knees. Breathing heavily he looked at the ground, then his, now metal, hands. Gone was flesh and football padding, and replaced with titanium metal. Looking with terror at himself he hadn't noticed that Henry was beside him wanting to help him up.

"STAY BACK!" He pushed himself away from Henry, whose hands were up.

"It's okay son."

Victor got to his metal feet. "Like hell it is. Your trying to kill me."

Henry was about to laugh, but bit it back. "Sorry, it's just a lot of people think that when they see me. Truth is I'm not here to kill you because your already dying."

Victor shook his head, trying to remember what had led him to this point. "No . . . No I can't be dying . . . I was … AGH! Why can't I remember!"

"Your in shock," Henry stated calmly, "it happens all the time. If you'd like I can help."

Victor looked at Henry with hesitation before spitting out, "Screw you." Victor leapt from the bleachers and took off down the field towards his car in the school parking lot.

At least that's where he thought he was headed.

He reached the edge of the field and saw nothing in front of him but blackness.

"Wha-what…"

"Ya know for someone with a genius level IQ you're not that bright."

Victor spun around, facing Henry who had somehow caught up to him from one side of the field to the other.

Victor pointed to the blackness. "What's happening? Why is there nothing out there?"

Henry sighed again, regaining his composure and his patience. "Like I said. Your dying, but your dying slowly. You've heard the expression 'life flashing before your eyes'? That only happens when the death is quick, but in your case it's more like your life is a movie. Skip ahead, skip back, pause, fast forward until the movies over."

Victor narrowed his brow. "When does the movie end?"

Henry shrugged. "It's different for everyone. I really have no idea."

Now that Victor had a chance to slow down and process what was happening, he was able to think a bit more clearly. He was dying, and this guy was here to take him...somewhere.

"Are you … death?"

Henry laughed. "No, no, no, not him, but I do work for him. I'm what you'd call a Reaper. I help guide souls to the other side of the veil. To answer your next question, no, the darkness you see around you isn't Hell. It's just, for lack of a better term, the lights going out."

Victor absorbed the information being thrown at him, making him weak in his metal knees. He leaned against the goal post. "H-how did this happen?"

The scene around him began to ripple and shift from the football field of his high school to a white laboratory. It only took Victor a moment to recognize where he was, causing him to scowl at Henry.

"Why am I here?"

Henry motioned towards the lab where Victor found his father, Beast Boy, Robin and Sarah looking at a large screen while Silas Stone sat at a desk looking into a microscope. Victor looked up at the screen and the small organisms floating there.

" _So its a virus?" Robin asked._

" _Not just a virus," Silas commented, "a virus made specifically for Victor." He typed a few keys and the screen locked on one organism in particular to get a closer look. Small worm-like appendages slithered along a computer chip looking device._

 _Beast Boy's eyes widened, "It's a Cyborg virus?"_

" _In layman's terms, yes." Silas said with a roll of his eyes. "It's attacking both his biological and mechanical systems."_

 _Beast Boy raised a brow. "But that's not possible."_

 _Robin waved off his comment. "Can you stop it?"_

 _Silas let out a long exhale. "I can try, but this virus is acting fast—"_

" _Wait what's that?!" Beast Boy pointed to a far corner of the chip on the screen. It was small, but there was definitely something there. Silas typed a few commands on the computer and zoomed in to the spot. It was small, but they could make out a symbol, a symbol Beast Boy knew very well. "The Brain."_

 _Robin narrowed his eyes examining the symbol carefully. "Are you positive?"_

" _I'd know that bastards mark anywhere," he snarled, but then his expressioned lit up with an idea, "but maybe Mento might have a way to combat this virus."_

 _Victor watched as his friends began making plans to contact Mento, save his life and all that, but slowly his attention was pulled to Sarah who had wandered away from the men and was looking down at his body. He slid up beside her as she began to quiver and shake, but wasn't letting the tears fall. Not yet anyways. Looking away from her to his body his breath caught in his throat._

"Holy crap." He turned to Henry. "You have to help me. You have to help fix me, or something!"

Henry's expression softened. "I'm sorry son, but it doesn't work that way."

Victor looked back to his father and friends. "But they could save me right? They could kill off the virus?"

Henry motioned to Victor's body. "It's not like the last time. Your falling to pieces without being able to hold yourself together—"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, what do you mean 'last time'?" Cyborg interrupted.

Henry tilted his head, but then snapped his fingers as if he remembered something. "That's right. You don't remember me from the last time I came for you."

Victor thought for a moment, then it hit him. "The accident? I was supposed to die, but my …"

Henry nodded. "Your father saved your life."

Victor turned around to look at the back of his father's exhausted and weathered head. Confusion for his situation slowly gave way to anger when the memories of what his father had done to him come flooding before his eyes.

"Yeah well I didn't ask him to save my life."

"Can you blame him?" Victor glanced over his shoulder at Henry. "He had just lost his wife after all."

"He turned me into a monster."

Henry chuckled. "Your still saying that? Even after everything you've seen and done?"

Victor stomped towards Henry, getting inches from his face. "I didn't ask to be saved! I didn't ask to be turned into this!" He gestured to himself. "Because of this I can't live a normal life, I can't have a girlfriend, a wife or my own family! Instead I'm just a freak of nature!"

Henry waited a moment for Victors tirade to end before speaking again. "What would you have done?"

Victor sputtered for a moment. "Wh-what do you mean?"

"If you had just lost your wife, and were about to lose your son, what would you have done?"

Victor snorted with contempt. "I would have found the courage to let them go. Not turn them into something like this."

Henry raised a bemused brow. "Really? So that's what you thought here?" The scene around them shifted again revealing a much younger Teen Titans pounding against a black barrier. Victor saw himself using everything he had to break through the magical shield, but was only able to watch helplessly as his "lil sis" was taken away as the portal for her father.

"What about here?" Henry asked. "What would you have done to save Raven, your appointed 'little sister'?"

Victor watched as Raven vanished. One of the most horrible memories he had, and yet he couldn't look away. The memory shifted again, this time to a hotel.

"No!" Victor screamed. "Not this place!" He watched himself pick up the lifeless body of his best friend and carry him out of the hotel room as Robin stood to the side, keeping Raven from seeing their dead teammate.

"You remember when that demon killed your friend? What would you have done to bring him back?"

Victor glared daggers at the Reaper. "Why are you showing me this?"

Henry's warm smile returned. "Part of my job is to help those crossing over to achieve some closure. Starting with the idea that you believe that you would never have a family." The setting around them changed again to a park. Looking at the beauty around him, Victor remembered this day well.

" _Hey he's like me!"_

Victor saw the child approach his younger self.

"I remember this." He chuckled. "I had no idea that was one of Sarah's kids."

"Life's funny that way." Another change to Titans island, however the tower wasn't built yet. Victor and Henry looked down at the scene, the sunlight washing over the new team of superheroes. "Like here. You lost one family only to get another one." Like pictures blazing past them, Victor saw images of other friends he had made. Bumble Bee, Mass Y Manos, Jinx, Drake, Ryand'r, and so many others.

"A family that kept growing."

Victor reached out, but was unable to actually touch any of the images he saw. "Why… why help me get closure?"

Henry places a hand on his shoulder. "To help you let go."

Victor's natural instinct was to fight back, to stubbornly shake the reaper's hand off his shoulder and storm off. However he couldn't find it in himself to do so. Instead he felt a wave of peace begin to move through him, quelling his confusion and ease his pain.

Henry placed his arm around Victors large shoulders. "Come on son. There's more to see and we don't have much time."

— _ **:0:—**_

Indistinct whispering hammered against the inside of Landon's skull forcing him to excuse himself from his duties to the sanctuary or a nearby bathroom. He rubbed the temples of his head in an attempt to soothe the growing pain.

"Bloody … hell." He groaned, his hands leaving the sides of his head and gripped the sink in front of him. He strained his ears, hoping to make out what the dark whispers were trying to say. "What are… you… ? Just shut …. up…"

He took a few deeps breaths before looking at himself in the mirror. To his horror it wasn't his devilishly handsome self looking back.

He let out a yell leaping backwards and slamming into the door. The personage looking back at him grinned wickedly as milky white eyes stared him down.

" _Careful old friend,"_ the entity mocked, " _don't want to let your minions see that your losing it."_ His index fingers twirled around his temples, indication insanity.

A knock at the door was all it took for the being in the mirror and the voices to vanish, bringing him back to earth once again.

"Sir? Are you alright in there?"

Landon let out a few shaky breaths and checked the time on his phone, realizing that he had locked himself in the restroom for about an hour.

"I told you not to disturb me." He grumbled weakly.

"I know sir," his minion called from the other side, "but Chancellor has some news and told us to fetch you."

"About bloody time." He stood up, straightened his hair and suit and stepped out of the bathroom. Two of his underlings stood back, hands clasped in front of them, but appeared nervous. "What?"

"Forgive us sir," one of them said, "is everything alright? We heard a commotion."

He dismissed their concerns. "I'm fine. Just impatient." He moved past them walking briskly down the decrepit halls until they had come to Chancellors makeshift lab and torture chamber. Opening the doors he was greeted with the sight of the Tameranean boy, still strapped to the chair, dazed and bleeding from a long claw impaled into his forehead.

"This had better be good." Landon grumbled while pinching the bridge of his nose. The whispers and noises began as soon as he saw the state the boy was in. This time he was able to make out something they were saying.

" _...Good….pain…."_

"I am not sure sir." Chancellor emerged from the shadows, perplexed excitement gleaming in his dark beady eyes.

Landon, his patience wearing thin, glared with heated malice. "Your not… sure?" His men that had followed behind him took a step back.

Chancellor began flailing his hands. "Just—watch this." Chancellor stood beside Ryand'r and with the tips of his fingers moved the claw in his forehead.

Ryand'r sat up in his chair and, as if the claw had brought him to life, began speaking in his native alien language. Landon pinched his brows together, stepping a bit closer to get a better look at what was happening.

Chancellor stepped up to a metal tray and picked up another claw similar to the one in Ryand'r's forehead. "This is a talon from one of the Malebranche, the guardians over punishing—"

"I know what the Malebranche are, and what their talents consist of. Why is it in his head?"

"As we discussed earlier sir, his alien biology makes him a bit more resilient to our methods. So I had to get creative." Chancellor twisted the claw in Ryand'r's head again, this time causing Ryand'r to twist and grunt in pain, and like before began speaking in his native language. "I think it's Tameranean?"

"Of course it's Tameranean you pigeon," Landon leaned forward to look closely into Ryand'r's glassy and vacant eyes. "Question is, what is he saying?"

"I can keep trying sir."

Landon shook his head. "No need. Luckily for us, I know of a translator." Landon took a deep breath and released a long, ear piercing whistle. A tune that echoed throughout his Hell domain, reaching every demon in creation, but aimed at only one.

A large ring of Fire appeared in the center of the room and from the vortex emerged a young man with crimson skin, pointed ears, a forked tail, and wearing nothing but black shorts.

"You rang boss?" The youth asked as the vortex closed behind him.

"I did mister Bloomberg. I have another assignment for you."

Eddie folded his arms, huffing brimstone in annoyance. "I just did an assignment for you. I got you that alien kid."

"Now I have another one. I need—"

"What the hell?!" When Eddie had mentioned Ryand'r, he curiously began looking for him, but didn't expect him to be chained to a chair and covered in blood. "What are you doing?!" He brushed past Landon heading for Ryand'r, but was cut off by Landon's two henchmen.

"Step back, mister Bloomberg," Landon warned, "we are not yet through with him."

Eddie turned back to Landon, his yellow eyes narrowed with hellfire. "He's a kid," he growled, "I didn't sign up for helping you torture a kid."

Landon snorted a laugh. "I suppose not. But you sold your soul to Neron, who then gave it to me. So technically you signed up for whatever I say."

Eddie clenched his fists that began to flicker with embers. "Well, screw you." Landon's henchmen moved to hold Eddie back, but Landon held up his hand to stop them. With eyes and hands now flaming with hellfire, he charged the lord of hell.

It only a simple snap of his fingers for Landon to extinguish the flames Eddie was producing. He stopped, feet away from Landon, and looked down at himself. He was still red and demon-like, but there was no fire to be seen.

Eddie cleared his throat awkwardl. "Well, uh, that's never happened to me before."

Landon shrugged. "Wouldn't know. Never had performance issues."

Landon snapped his fingers again.

Eddie howled in pain and fell to his knees, wrapping arms around himself as pure agony shook his body. Ancient Demonic runes slowly began to sear themselves into his flesh.

"You see this?" Landon knelt down motioning to the lettering, "this is your contract, the deal you made. In short it reads, I say jump, you get froggy." Landon grabbed Eddie by his jaw and forced him to look into his eyes. "Are we clear?"

Unable to speak from the pain, Eddie just nodded his head as sulfuric tears dripped from his eyes. Landon stepped back, allowing the runes to burn the young demon for a few more moments before snapping his fingers, getting rid of the contract and the pain.

"Now get me the other alien girl known as Starfire."

Eddie got to his hands and knees, breathing away the pain while glaring daggers at the demon lord.

"Yes sir." Then vanished into another vortex, set out to accomplish his mission.

 **Arent I just an evil son of a bitch.**

 **Quiz time.**

 **Who did Landon see in the mirror? And why is he seeing them?**


	8. Another one gone

**Not much to say, just sorry this took so long. If your friends with me on social media you know I've been drawing a lot! If we're not then we'll...alright then.**

 **on with the show.**

 **Chapter 8: Another one gone.**

Among his many talents and proficiencies, boiling water was very close to the top of his list. Although he opted for the usual method of using the stove over his fire based powers. As far as he was aware none of the Titans knew that he was skilled in the art of making tea, and he was dead set on keeping it that way.

His older brother, Magnus, was a passionate herbalist, often traveling to far away and exotic places in search of spices, herbs, plants for healing and other amenities. One of Magnus's favorite pastimes was experimenting with, and finding, new blends for teas, something he passed on to his little brother, Drake.

His lip twitched into a smile, but vanished just as quickly.

Shaking the memories away, he peered over his shoulder at the timid girl waiting for him.

Once Kole had said she needed help she began hyperventilating and was close to breaking down. He had helped her to settle down for the moment, but she was still distracted and anxious.

With her tea finished he placed a warm mug in front of her.

She looked at the mug curiously before a warm smile broke across her lips. "I didn't make you for a tea maker." She reached for the cup cautiously, not because it was hot, but because she was unsure of how it would taste.

He pulled up a stool and took a seat beside her. "Well you don't know everything about me." Still smiling, she took a small sip. She resisted the urge to moan when the warm liquid worked to soothe her from the inside. It was fantastic, and her eyes rolling into the back of her head said as much.

He smiled. "Do me a favor and don't tell anyone. I've got a reputation to maintain after all."

She eyed him curiously, but a teasing smile twitched from behind the mug. "I won't say a word."

Drake could see that with each sip she took, the tension in her shoulders began to loosen, which made him proud that he still maintained his tea brewing skills. As much as he was enjoying this moment with her, something he missed more than anything, she was there for a reason.

He sighed, "You said you might be in trouble. What did you mean by that?"

Her shoulders stiffened slightly as she lowered the mug. "As a, um, servant of the lord, I often have to do some pretty amazing things," her head hung just a bit lower, "and some very bad things." He waited, as long as it would take for her to continue. She looked up at him with a tint of pink to her blue eyes. "I've had to… smite people, Drake. I've had to kill

them."

Once again he waited a moment. For as long as he had known her, she had always been this spunky, quirky, albeit shy young woman. It was odd for him to see her in such a vulnerable state, which made this all the more worrisome.

"Kole," he spoke as softly as he could, "angels have had to carry out the will of the lord, or whomever, since the beginning of time, including killing. The firstborn sons of Egypt, Sodom and Gomorrah—"

She nodded her head. "I understand that. But …. I don't think this is the same thing." He tilted his head. She continued. "Over the last few weeks Jacob has had me 'smiting' people. He said they must be 'punished'."

Now Drake was really confused. "Your sure that's what he said? That was the word he used?"

With tears choking her, all she was able to do was nod. "What? What is it?"

"Well," he started, "being, um, close to the lord of hell has given me insight into these kind of things. For starters, it's not an Angels job to punish. Angels demonstrate and condemn, but never punish. It's hells job to punish. It's odd that an Angel would say something like that."

Her eyes had somewhat cleared and were now just a bit wider. "So… what does that mean?"

He took a few moments. What did that mean? He couldn't be sure, but something didn't seem right. "Who are the people Jacob told you to smite?"

She reached into a pocket on the golden corset she wore and handed him a slip of paper. "I wrote them down." He took the note and began to look it over, each name causing his jaw to drop lower and lower. "Drake What is it?"

"I know these names." He breathed. "Each one of is one if Landon's contacts from earth.." He quickly stood, his eyes still on the list, and left the common room abruptly. Confused Kole scurried after him continuing to ask him questions, but he either ignored her or was to concerned with his thoughts to respond. They found themselves in his room, Drake at his desk digging around for something.

"Drake, What are you doing?" She asked with exasperation.

He revealed a small address book and began flipping through the pages, matching names on her note to what was in his book. "Holy shit. These are exact matches."

Kole's hands slapped over her mouth. "Oh… I've been killing… but Jacob said they were sinners."

"Well true these guys weren't saints, but nothing that would.." he trailed off when he noticed Kole looking more and more agitated. "Hey, listen to me," he approached her, his hands on her arms gently, "you were following orders, that's all? Now do you have any idea why Jacob has been killing off Landon's earth contacts?"

Her eyes didn't meet his. "You mean why "I" have been killing them you mean and no I don't." Before he could retort she spun out of his grasp and sat herself on the couch in his room.

Drake went back to his address book. "Why do you think your in trouble because of this?"

She leaned forward putting her face into her hands. "I was starting to suspect something was wrong. I didn't have evidence that any of them were actually guilty, just took Jacobs word for it. Now I'm still not sure…" there was silence for a few moments before she felt that he had taken a seat on the couch beside her.

The was silence between them, Kole feeling a sense of guilt weighing down on her, while Drake was just glad that she was here. True it was under less than favorable circumstances, he couldn't help but feel better that she was there.

She peaked at him from beneath her hands, keeping her chin in her palms. "So, what now? I'm a like a murderer or something?"

He let out a small laugh. "I think you're in the clear. I don't know what the rules are up there, but I am aware of the idea of good deeds, and I think you, inadvertently, helped me find out where Starfire's brother might be."

Her brows shot to the top of her forehead. "Starfire has a brother? Wow you have daughter, she has a brother, what's next?" They both shared a laugh before she continued. "How is it going with your, um…"

"Daughter?" He snorted, "Well she's made it clear she wants nothing to do with me."

Strangely she didn't hear any sadness, or anger in the tone of his voice. Still she felt the urge to reassure him. "I'm sure she'll come around. Stubbornness does run in your family after all."

She smiled playfully, not at all put off by his glare. "Anyways, like I said, you might have helped me find where her brother might be." He stood up and gathered the his address book. "Demons are notoriously stupid, so Landon sometimes has to have human helpers," he pointed to a name in his book while showing it to her, "this guy for example handles all of Landon's properties, and hotels in the U.S.. He might know where he's hiding."

Kole looked at the name carefully. "Hank Reed Williams. I don't recognize it."

"Good, then that old fart might still be alive." She glanced at him, more out of concern for the tone he was using. "Well he's a bit of an old jackass, but he owes me one so might as well."

She raised a brow, but shrugged. "If you say so. Where we headed?"

— _ **:0:—**_

 **South Georgia**

The light faded and Drake found himself standing at the entrance to a long dirt road leading to a run down house at its end. What was more surprising to Drake was how "not sick" he was from teleporting. Whenever Landon teleported him, he was always dizzy and nauseous right afterwards. With Kole he was a bit light headed, but nowhere near as bad.

"You okay?" Kole asked when she saw him sway a bit.

"Surprisingly, yes. I don't feel as sick like I usually do. We should do this more often." He wasn't sure why he said it, but it was too late to take it back now. Shuffling feet, and the air between them growing more tense by the second, they headed up the driveway.

Drake made sure to stay a few steps ahead of her, as friendly as the were with each other, and as comfortable as he was with her, there was still a flicker of awkwardness between them.

"So why does he owe you?" She asked suddenly.

"Um, short version is that he was in dept with the wrong people and we helped clear it."

Her step slowed slightly. "Do I want to know what that means?"

He shrugged with a crooked smile, "Doubt it."

They made it to the front porch, complete with missing boards, chipped paint, and a weathered welcome mat that read "go away".

Drake knocked on the door. "Yup. Same ol' Hank."

A flash of light exploded from the front door, blinding them both, and as soon as the light had faded he found Kole had vanished completely.

"KOLE!" So concerned he was with what had just happened he hadn't heard the door open or the click of a hammer.

"Turn around," a deep gruff voice commanded. Drake brought his hands up and did as he was told, turning around until he was faced to face with the barrel of a Remington revolver. Holding the weapon was an old man whose beady eyes glared dangerously behind a pair of dark rimmed glasses who Drake recognized as Hank.

Drake smiled awkwardly, "Good to see you too, now how about you lower the gun—"

Hank pushed the barrel closer to Drake's face. "How do I know your not here to do me in like the others?"

He feigned ignorance. "What are you talking about?"

Hank chuckled. "I may have been born at night but it wasn't last night. I've stayed up on Landon's current events and I know everyone that ever said hello to him is dead—"

"So don't you think of I wanted to kill you, you'd be dead already? Or if that was the case that people Landon knew are dying that I'd be the first to go?"

Drake could see a seed of doubt had been planted into Hanks mind, still he didn't lower the gun. "Or the angels kept you alive so that you come after me thinking I'd just throw my door open for you?"

Growling with frustration, Drake lowered his hands. "Okay are we gonna do this all damn day, or are you gonna shoot me?" Once again Hank pushed the barrel closer, but Drake could see that his trigger finger was slipping away. "Come on Hank, I need your help, once I get it I'll be out of your hair. So if you're gonna shoot me, then shoot me I don't—"

BANG!

Drake dropped to his knees as scorching pain began to course through his leg. It took him a moment to realize what had just happened, but once he had he let out a growl of agony.

"WHAT THE HELL!?"

"Quit whining," Hank grabbed Drake by the arm and threw it over his shoulder to help get him to his feet, "it was a clean shot, right through the muscle."

Drake was still fuming as Hank helped lead him into his house. "BY AN IRON BULLET YOU BASTARD!"

Hank weaved through the home that was littered with boxes, books, and decrepit furniture that hadn't been taken care of in years. "Yup. This way you'll be to focused on the pain and healing then you will be on killing me."

Hank helped Drake into a chair and went to his kitchen for some rags. "Don't bet on that!"

Ignoring him, Hank continued. "The iron from that bullet with keep you powerless for a time. Once they come back you can heal yourself." Hank handed him a warm towel for his leg. "Try not to bleed on my floor."

"Bite me." He snatched the rag and held it to his leg, hissing through his teeth in pain. Considering the situation, Drake could sort of see the brilliance of Hanks plan. But he still didn't like it. "What did you do to my friend?"

Hank motioned to the front door where a sigil had been drawn in blood onto its wood. "Just a basic angel banishing sigil. It's not easy to kill an angel, but you can send them back to heaven. Demons have one too. Couldn't take any chances ya know."

Drake rolled his eyes. "Course not. Good to see you again by the way. Dick."

Hank chuckled. "You said you needed my help with something."

In pain and getting to the point, Drake responded sharply. "I need to know what properties Landon has in Southern California." Hank furrowed his wrinkled brows. "I told you, we had a falling out and I need to find him."

"What makes you think he's still in Cali? The guy has safe houses all over the world."

He shrugged. "Just a hunch. And I'm not looking for a safe house. Most likely someplace big and secluded."

Hank still seemed unconvinced, but Drake could tell he was thinking. "I'll see what I can do. Sit tight." He disappeared into the back of his house, leaving Drake to mutter obscenities under his breath.

— _ **:0:—**_

It had taken Raven a couple of hours to get her demonic powers back under her control. She had a feeling it would be difficult, but she hadn't expected it to be this bad. Even now as she moved towards Silas's lab, she could still feel her inner darkness clawing for release. To prevent that, she kept her thoughts focused on her newfound freedom and the fact that she was back in action.

As much as she enjoyed the perks of a normal life, she had missed being a hero. God how she missed it. Missions, her team, Hell even her uniform. The swish of her cloak around her bare legs, the feel of her leotard against her skin and the dangling of her belt around her hips.

 _Happy thoughts,_ she mused, _happy thoughts._

Stepping to the glass doors, Raven saw her boyfriend on his communicator with someone, she wasn't sure who, Robin and Silas talking with one another at his computer, and Cyborg.

Her breath hitched in her throat.

For as long as she knew him, he had been this strong, figuratively and literally, pillar of a man that she could lean on for anything. Now his armor was in pieces around him, and his human flesh was rotting away and In the midst of it all was Sarah Simms. She looked exhausted, but something was keeping her upright in the chair she sat in.

 _Huh,_ she wondered, _I didn't think they were this serious. Shows how much I know._

She entered the lab, quietly as to not draw attention to herself, and moved up beside Sarah.

Raven placed a hand on her shoulder. "You should get some rest. There isn't much you can do for him now."

Sarah looked up at her with red, puffy, and tired eyes. "I can't, not while he's … like this. I have to know he's okay."

Raven could feel it. Amidst her overwhelming sadness there was determination, a small hint of anger, but mostly a strong stubbornness that mirrored Cyborgs.

Chuckling to herself, Raven pulled up a chair beside her.

Sarah looked back at Cyborg. "Can't you, I dunno, fix him? He always said you were—"

"Scary? Creepy?"

Sarah laughed a small laugh. "Special. Magical even."

Raven shrugged. "I wouldn't know where to begin. I could heal his human body, what's left of it, but I don't know if the virus he has will continue to infect him faster than I can heal him."

The tears threatened Sarah's eyes again. "Don't you feel helpless? Not being able to do anything?"

Raven pondered her question for a moment, "Not really. I want to help him so bad, but I know he's in good hands." She glanced over her shoulder and Sarah knew what she was referring to. "You know there was actually I time when I thought it was pointless to be worried about a teammate leaving."

Sarah let out a large yawn. "And now?"

She smiled, a small but affectionate smile. "He's the brother I didn't know I needed." Raven glanced at Sarah who had closed her eyes, her body relaxing and appeared to be drifting off.

"WHAT!"

Both girls were on their feet. Robin was looking at his communicator, his face enraged, teeth clenched and hands shaking.

Raven was by their sides in half a second. "What's happening?"

Beast Boy shook his head. "I don't know. Rose just called him. I think it's about Starfire."

— _ **:0:—**_

 **Half an hour ago**

Rose pulled her motorcycle to a stop right outside the entrance to the warehouse district. Removing her helmet she reached for her communicator as her passenger dismounted and was close to kissing the pavement.

"It's official," Jacqueline heaved, bent over and hands in her knees, "I hate motorcycles."

Rose waved off her concerns. "Your fine. This is how people get around these days."

Jacqueline wiped the sweat off her forehead with her sleeve, realizing that she was still in a sweater that she had borrowed. "Oops."

"What's that?"

Jacqueline stood up. "Nothing, just talking to myself. So what are we doing here?"

Rose got off her bike. "I was hoping to meet up with Starfire and coordinate our search. Communicator says she's here, but I don't see her. Might be searching one of the buildings."

"I'll sniff her out." Jacqueline walked passed her, looking at the different buildings with her nose in the air. Rose shrugged and followed after her.

Hesitantly and not wanting to walk in silence, she asked, "Not to get all personal with the person that almost froze me to death, but how did things go with—"

"Drake?" She turned around stopping Rose with a brown eyed glare. Wisps of Frost and snow fluttering from her nose and eyes. "Did you know he was my father?"

Rose wasn't at all intimidated. Reading the younger girl before her she wasn't angry, more like hurt. "We all sort of did." She responded. "We just had no idea how you'd respond."

Jacqueline snorted more ice from her nose. "Well it doesn't matter. I didn't need a father then and I don't need one know." She spun on her heel, but Rose wasn't done.

"Look, I'm not the best person to talk to when it comes to dads, trust me, but if my father was half the man Drake is, I'd probably be less screwed up."

Jacqueline slowed down, telling Rose that she was at least thinking about what she was telling her, but quickly picked up the pace. "I'm still plenty screwed up."

Rose chuckled to herself before whispering, "So edgy."

"I heard that."

BOOM!

The ground shook when an orange projectile slammed into the pavement like a comet hitting the earth. The crash had happened a few buildings down, forcing them to break into a run towards the site. The closer they had gotten the could see a large dust cloud and the sounds of battle coming from inside, Red flames clashing against emerald green beams of light.

"Looks like we found Starfire," Rose drew her swords, "stay back."

"HA!" Jacqueline guffawed, "that's funny."

Rose spun around. "Look kid, I'm responsible for you and I'm not letting you anywhere near—"

"Awe, It's so cute that you care." Jacqueline batted her eyelashes sarcastically before getting serious. "But I can take care of myself." Another explosion sounded from the battle zone followed by a crash.

"Crap." Forgetting about Jacqueline for a moment the pair took off. Her swords at the ready she charged into the clearing smoke in time to see that Starfire had been knocked unconscious and was in the arms of someone with blood red skin, pointed ears and white—

She stopped as if slamming into a brick wall that pushed all the air out of her body and freezing the blood in her veins. She felt nothing, not even the swords dropping to the ground with a clatter, but the heat from the vortex he created. She saw nothing, not Jacqueline running passed her, but the vortex vanishing around them. Smelt nothing, but the familiar scent of brimstone and silver.

Nothing else existed, but him.

"Eddie?"

With Starfire unconscious in his arms, Eddie turned around, making eye contact just as the vortex closed around him.

"Rose?"

And just like that, he was gone again.

 **If anyone got the reference from my collaboration with Loubuggins "Every King needs a Queen", besides Lou, you'll get a drawing. Good luck!**


	9. Closure

**Get ready for another emotional ride into Frost. Get your tissues ready.**

 **On with the show.**

 **Chapter 9: Closure**

"DAMN IT!"

In a fit of rage, Robin threw his communicator across the room that would have exploded into a bits had Beast Boy not caught It first.

"Robin," Raven spoke, "you need to calm down." She reached towards him, but he wasn't having any of it.

"How can I be calm when Starfire is gone too?!" He seethed. He leaned himself against the wall, his fists clenched into tight balls as he pressed Against the solid mass. "I never should have let her go."

"Blaming yourself or others won't help," Raven put a hand on his shoulder, but he pulled away.

"Ravens right," Beast Boy tossed Robin's communicator back to him. Without looking, he caught the device with one hand and pocketed it. "Your no good to anyone all mad and stuff."

Robin glared darkly and his green teammate. "Don't tell me you wouldn't be the same way if something happened to Raven?"

Sensing the impending argument, Raven stepped between them, but to her great fortune Silas emerged from the darkness of his lab and announced, "Beast Boy! Your father came through."

Frustrations and anger aside, the three Titans turned their full attention to Silas.

Beast Boy had practically leapt over to the scientist and was bouncing on the balls of his feet. "I was right?!"

"Indeed," he grinned, "Mento recognized the virus as something the Brain created and is now in the process of sending over a counter virus."

"That's good right?" Raven asked. "Victor will be okay?"

Silas's smile wavered. "Well, we can stop the virus from spreading, or continuing to break his body down, but whether or not his body will be able to come back from the beating it's taken is another matter entirely."

A smirk of pride broke across her pale lips, "Just leave that to me. I should be able to heal his human half."

Silas's eyes lit up. "Well what are we standing around for? Let's do it."

Without another word he went back into his lab with the Titans in tow. However Robin held back.

"Raven. You stay here with Silas and help Cyborg. Beast Boy and I will go back to Jump City and look for Starfire."

Raven and her beau exchanged looks, as if mentally asking the other if it was a wise decision. Eventually Beast Boy gave a curt nod and stood back with their team leader.

"Just bring her back in one piece." Raven waved her hands and conjured a portal that would take them back to their city.

— _ **:0:—**_

With Raven tending to Cyborg, Sarah and Silas were in his lab looking over the counter virus that Mento had sent to them.

"So we actually have a chance at saving him?"

He smiled, a tired, but happy smile. "It would seem that way. Once Raven heals his body, I'll administer the counter virus, sure I'll have to rebuild his mechanical parts, but I've done it once I can do it again."

Without thinking, she threw her arms around his neck. "I knew we'd be able to save him."

He couldn't help but laugh out loud. "Yes indeed. Nothing the Titans aren't capable of doing." Although now that Sarah had mentioned it, this seemed somewhat of a simple thing to overcome. Maybe villains were just getting sloppy in there attempt to kill off heroes.

Before he could dwell on the thoughts any further, Raven stepped into his lab. Silas didn't know the girl well, if at all, just what he saw on the news, but she was almost impossible to read. She seemed tired from her time healing Victor, but there was something else. Something else that seemed to be weighing on her that he couldn't quite pinpoint.

Sarah's chipper voice brought him from his thoughts. "Raven, is Cyborg gonna be okay?"

Raven gave a weak smile. "Yes I've healed him for the moment, but I still feel the virus working through him."

"Don't worry, the counter virus is almost ready."

Raven nodded before staring at the ground. "Silas can I talk to you in private for a minute?"

Silas and Sarah shared a confused glance. "No," she stated firmly, but shakily, "tell us both."

Raven stared her down for a moment, but could tell that she wasn't going to budge. She took a deep breath, and though Sarah was still there, she addressed Silas specifically.

"Yes I healed his body," she approached him, "but you have to know that his spirit, or his soul I guess, is… far from here."

Any excitement and happiness that had been felt a money ago had vanished, Silas in particular was trying to use his scientific mind to figure out the meaning of her words.

He stood up and began pacing. "Wh-wha-What are you saying?"

Biting her lip she drew her hood over her head. "What I mean is you should be prepared if Victor… doesn't want to come back." She stood back, her hood concealing her face, but especially her tears. "You may want to spend some time with your son." She floated from the lab leaving the weight of her words behind.

Silas got back to his chair, feeling his world evaporate around him. He didn't register that Sarah was trying to speak to him, or that she had left, probably to say her goodbyes.

Was this really happening again? Did he save his son all those years ago only for him to be at death's door once again?

It was foolish to think that death wouldn't come for him, or anyone, ever again. In a world of invincible alien men, Angels, demons and monsters, there had to be someway to save his family. Once again though, these were all exceptions to the rules, and the rules were simple.

Everybody dies, and once again that time for Victor was now.

He didn't know how long he just sat there looking at his desk. A few seconds, a few days, hell a few years, he didn't care, but finally he got to his feet and made his way to see his son.

He was vaguely aware of the sounds of sniffling and soft muttering, but he didn't know what was being said. It was likely personal and he didn't want to intrude. Stepping into the room here his son lay, he kept his eyes on him, not realizing that Sarah and Raven had stepped away to give him some privacy.

He pulled up a chair, noting that Victors human body had been healed, but his metal was still broken and in pieces around him. He didn't look as horrifying as before, but this is wasn't the victor he knew. This wasn't his son.

He cleared his right throat. "So...uh… Raven says that you might not make it back this time." He choked. He exhaled a shaky breath. "I don't know if you can hear me, but, uh…. I feel I have to say…. I never meant for this," he gestured to Cyborgs metal body, "to happen. I just…. I just lost your mother… I didn't want to lose you too."

Emotion finally overcame him when he thought back to that night. The night he lost his wife and almost his son. Emotion that had been buried inside of him for years finally burst through the walls he had built. "I'm sorry," he sobbed falling face first onto his son's chest, "I'm sorry for everything."

— _ **:0:—**_

From the concealment of the veil Victor watched with a broken heart while his father sobbed onto his body's metal chest. In all of his years since the accident that caused his father to turn him into the half metal man, he had never once heard him say he was sorry.

Until now.

Victor moved around his body until he was beside his father. "All these years, he finally said it."

"We all need closure son." Henry, the reaper, stood back. "Even your father. He needed to let you know how he truly felt. Just like you need to let him know."

Victor had been keeping his anger towards his father and his actions bottled up for so long, he wasn't sure if he'd be able to say what he had always wanted. On the other hand, what did he have to lose?

A knot began to form in his throat, but didn't keep him from being able to speak. "Si-Dad… I hated you for a long time. Blaming you for what you did to me, taking away my choice to move on, to have a normal life, or to even have a family." The knot grew as did a pool of tears from behind his eye. "I guess it was easier to blame you then it was to admit that you actually did this FOR me. You didn't . . . You didn't want to lose me too." He took a deep breath. "Your not the only one who needs to be sorry. I'm sorry for hating you . ." He couldn't touch his father, but he reached out all the same. "I forgive you Dad."

The two Stone men sat there, one on each side of the veil, allowing their tears to fall freely as the weight that they had been carrying began to lesson.

"See what I mean." Henry smiled. "Closure." Victor nodded in response, using his arm to wipe away his tears. Finally Henry said, "Well Victor, it's time to go."

Victor looked over at Henry with a tired smile. "Your right, and I am ready to go with you." Victor got to his feet, but didn't stand with the reaper. "But not today."

Henry chuckled to himself. "I had a feeling you'd say that."

"Look Henry," Victor started, "I have to know that my family is safe. My kids."

Henry chuckled again. "Well you do realize that it doesn't always work that way. The battle goes on, the world continues to turn, even in your absence. Your just in the very fortunate circumstance that you do have a choice considering your dad just saved your life."

"I understand, and I'm choosing to stay."

Henry shrugged and extended his hand. "It was an honor to meet you Victor."

He took the reaper's hand. "Likewise."

Henry turned around and began to walk away into the emptiness of the veil. "See you around son." And vanished into the nothingness.

— _ **:0:—**_

Robin's narrowed, angry eyes were zeroed in on Rose, oblivious to the world around him as he moved quickly to confront her.

"Robin cool it," Beast Boy tried to warn, but the Boy Wonder was on the warpath.

Jacqueline had been standing beside Rose as she sat on her bike when they approached. Seeing the state of the Titan leader, and that his rage was directed at Rose, she decided to intercept him.

"It wasn't her fault. Firestar was already mid battle when we showed up."

"It's Starfire." Robin growled. It was clear that he wasn't in the mood for excuses. "Who took her?"

Jacqueline threw her hands out in exasperation. "I don't know. Tall. Red skin, white hair, horns," she looked past Robin to the changeling standing beside him, "kinda looked like him, only not as cute."

Robin rolled his eyes, not caring that his mask concealed them. Beast Boy on the other hand chuckled nervously while rubbing the back of his head. "You, um must be Jacqueline. I'm Beast Boy."

She looked him up and down a couple of times. "Yup. I would."

The tips of his ears began to burn brighter, until Robin brushed past them towards Rose.

"What happened Rose?" He demanded, but her eyes were planted on the ground. Eyes glazed over as if she was in another world. "Are you listening to me!? What happened?!"

"Starfire was taken," she responded quietly, "I told you that when I contacted you. We got here and she was fighting…"

Robin waited a moment. "Fighting… who? What? Jacqueline said it was some kind of red skinned creature."

Her blue eyes glared at him from beneath her brows, her jaw tightening and body trembling with anger. She spoke softly, but her voice carried a venomous bite. "It wasn't a creature. Just…"

"Just what? Rose spit it out!"

"Maybe she'd be able to if you weren't screaming in her face, Sparrow, or whatever."

Robin turned his head to yell at her, but Rose was on her feet. "I don't need you help kid. I can take care of myself." She turned to Robin. "And as for you. I already told you what happened. When are you going to start trusting me?!"

"When you earn it—"

"—YOU WON'T LET ME!" She held out her hands, running them through her white locks to calm herself. "You know what. Trust me, don't trust me I don't give a shit anymore. Wanna kick me off the team, go ahead, but I'm done. I am just done."

Before Robin could continue to argue with her his communicator began to ring. "This isn't over." He growled one last time.

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah we are. So fuck off."

Beast Boy stepped up and grabbed Robins communicator seeing as how their argument wasn't going to stop anytime soon. "Robins communicator this is Beast Boy. How may I be of assistance?"

On the other side of the communicator Drake scrunched his face. " _Where's Robin?"_

Robin pushed him out of the way. "Right here. Report."

Drake raised a brow, figuring he must have interrupted something, but shoved it aside for the moment. " _I might know where Landon is."_ Drake grunted as he moved around in a chair.

"You okay?" Beast Boy asked.

" _Just dandy after being shot in the leg."_

" _Your fine ya big baby!"_ Someone called from the other side.

"You were shot?" Jacqueline was peering over their shoulders to look at the communicator.

" _It's not that bad. Just an old friend being an ass is all. Anyways,"_ Drake moved the communicator so that it was facing a computer. " _Last year, Landon purchased a few properties in the Jump City area."_

"Why?" Beast Boy asked.

" _Safe houses, storage, who cares. He has a few houses, some warehouses, a couple storage units, and an abandoned subway station."_

"There," Robin declared, "they have to be there. But we should check all the sites just to be safe. Send us the locations."

" _You got it. I'll try to meet you guys when I can. Over and out."_

"Over and out?" Beast Boy snorted. "What does he think this is a spy movie or something."

Robin clicked his communicator closed, ignoring him. "We'll wait for Drake to send us the other locations, but in the meantime—"

ZOOM!

He was interrupted when Rose, equipped with Jacqueline as her passenger, flew past them on her motorbike.

Beast Boy stared off blankly at the duo vanishing into the distance. "Should we—" But Robin was already running after them, "okay. To the abandoned subway." He shifted into a pterodactyl, took Robin into his talons, and took off after Rose.

— _ **:0:—**_

It was disheartening to think that Starfire was so used to the scene that had been set before her. A dark tile covered room, with a variety if different intimidating objects placed on a metal tray on one side of of the room. Her wrists, ankles, torso and head had been shackled to the metal chair, only allowing her eyes to move about the room. She tested the strength of her bonds, of course she couldn't break them, or summon her powers.

Unlike the first time, she wasn't afraid. She was angry.

She expected to be sitting there alone and in the dark for quite a while, hours even, but a smooth English accent broke the silence.

"I apologize for keeping you waiting," an all to familiar darkened figure emerged from the shadows, "and your conditions."

Starfire's eyes glared with emerald fury and spoke with a calmness similar to the moments before a storm. "Where is Ryand'r?"

Landon's signature smirk wavered a moment. "He's here. He's alive."

She narrowed her brows. _He said he's alive, but didn't say he was "fine"._

"My turn." He reached into his suit and pulled out a slip of paper, unfolded and showed it to her. "Do these words mean anything to you?"

Her eyes bore into his before flitting down to the words scribbled onto the paper. It took her a moment to recognize that they were Tameranean words, just written in the common Earthling alphabet and not the traditional Tameranean lettering. Still she was able to read it.

"It would be more helpful if you turned the words the right way for better understanding." Confused, Landon began to turn the paper in different directions. "Nope… wrong way… try again… still doesn't work…"

Landon stopped turning the paper. "Why do I get the feeling you're having fun with me?" Her only response was a smirk of her own. "As adorable as I find your antics, I'm sure your plucky band of misfits are already on they're way, so time is a factor."

"Then I merely have to wait for their arrival, but before they arrive and your butt kicking begins, I must ask. Why did you take my brother? What do you want with us?"

Landon folded the paper and placed it back into his coat before pulling up a chair in front of her. "The short answer is that your brother has something I want and unfortunately has been less than forthcoming as to giving it to me."

Starfire was now more confused than ever. Thinking back to what Drake had said, she asked, "But what would an alien prince have that you would want? It is my understanding that you care very little for what occurs off of this planet."

Landon was quiet for a moment, thinking carefully about his next words. "I know very little about you, Starfire, except from what your sister told me. It is my understanding you were enslaved, correct?" Silence. "Well if that's the case then you'll understand. Understand that you had to do what you did to survive." He leaned forward in the chair. "Now I'm doing what I have to do, and I am so, so sorry." His eyes flashed, red to normal, followed by a scream coming from a vent in the ceiling that led to another room.

Starfire forgot her bravado for a moment and began calling out for her brother. "Ryand'r!" She fought furiously against the cuffs, "Landon why are you doing this?! We are allies! Friends!"

He leapt from his chair so that his face was now inches from her own. His eyes flaming and teeth bared looking almost like shark teeth. "I am the lord of hell," he spat, "I do not have 'friends', I do not have 'allies', I have 'minions' and 'those that are in my way' and right now you and your brother are in my way from taking what is rightfully mine."

He stood up, straightened his suit and smoothed down his hair. "You could sit there, and wait for your friends, but you'll have to listen to him scream." His eyes flashed again followed by another scream that made her heart stop.

"Or. Translate what he's saying and it'll end sooner rather than later." His eyes flashed, but this time instead of screaming there was a grunting, noise of discomfort followed by muttering. Muttering she recognized as Tameranean speak.

Landon revealed a long talon from his pocket. "This is a Malebranche claw. Used by the beasts that guard the nine circles to get the souls of the damned to spill their secrets. One prick is all a human needs, but the physiology of your species makes it difficult." Twirling the claw between his fingers he approached her once again. "All you have to do, is translate. Once I have what I want, your both free and assuming you stay out of my way, you'll never see me again."

A flash of his eyes, grunting followed by Tameranean muttering.

Her lower lip quivered, but managed to choke out the meaning, "'I am Ryand'r, son of the royal family of Tameran'."

Landon smiled to himself before taking his seat where he remained while the pattern continued into the day. Landon would send an order to his demons, Ryand'r would cry out before speaking in their native tongue and she, reluctantly, would translate. With each new word or phrase she would pray that it would be what he was searching for, and this torment would end.

But it didn't.

Until.

Ryand'r said something, it was weak and garbled, but she understood. Even if she didn't know what it meant.

"What is it?" He asked when he saw that she had paused.

"I do not… he said, 'Oh great stone from the heavens, I am thy servant. Help me to bare thee thy children'."

Landon's face split into a wicked smile. "Now we're getting to the sexy stuff. Although it was interesting to hear about how he walked in on your sister naked. Anyways let's push forward shall we?" He wasn't the least bit put off by the death stare she was sending him.

"For the record. I am truly sorry about all of this."

" _No your not….."_


	10. The servant of

**If I was to put everything I had planned for this chapter it would have been super long, so I had to it would have easily have been over 5k in words. It's not bad but I'm not the guy who likes to write long ass chapters... anymore.**

 **Anyways.**

 **The good stuff is next chapter. Promise ;)**

 **on with the show.**

 **Chapter 10: The servant of….**

Once Drake had finished sending all the information to Robin, he removed the bandages on his leg to check his wound. Groaning, his powers hadn't returned yet, leaving the bullet hole still open and bleeding.

"Don't worry ya big baby, you'll be fine." With a couple of beers in his hand, Hank sat down beside Drake and slipped him a bottle.

Drake took the bottle, but left it unopened. "Thanks, but I'm on the clock."

Hank twisted the top off his bottle and threw the cap aside. "I never figured you for the 'joining superheroes' type."

Drake snorted a laugh. "Neither did I. Yet here I am."

"How did that happen?" Hank asked after taking a drink.

Though he wasn't drinking he suddenly became very interested in the bottle in front of him. "It's a long ass story, but it's all Landon's fault. Just like everything else that's happened the last few days."

"You're telling me. I've been keeping tabs on all of his comings and goings and so far a lot of his human contacts have been put six feet under. The kicker is—"

Drake finished his thought, "Angels."

Hank nodded. "My unique security system alerts me when angels are step on my property."

Drake chuckled. "And like the old fart you are, you were ready."

Hank shrugged, "You don't live this long taking chances. Speaking of, why were you with an angel?"

Drake looked down at the desk trying like hell to avoid his beady eyes boring into him. "Another long story."

Hank examined him for a moment before bursting into laughter. "Oh. I see how it is."

Drake rolled his eyes, "No you don't—"

"What did I just say? I'm old, not blind and stupid."

Drake threw up his hands. "Fine, okay, we were, but it wouldn't work between us. Our lives are way too messy. She's an angel of the lord, and I'm a messed up Dragon Knight. Doesn't exactly scream 'couple of the year'."

Hank continued to laugh to himself. "If you want my advice," a scathing look from Drake said otherwise, "then you know where to find me."

"We sure do."

Hank was on his feet with his gun drawn and aimed at the scowling angel that had appeared behind them.

"H-how did you get in here?" He asked. "I have my security."

Kole folded her arms and popped her hip out. "Oh didn't I mention? I'm only HALF angel, so your little 'angel-be-gone' spell didn't send me to heaven since I'm not allowed, it just sent me away. Once I got my bearings, I came right back."

"Wait," Drake spoke, "your only half angel?"

She shrugged. "Yup. It's like I have an angelic suit of armor that lets me act like one, but at anytime, I can take it off and I won't be an angel anymore. Anyways," she stomped towards Hank, ignoring the gun pointed at her head. "No I'm not here to kill you, but I'm certainly tempted."

Drake got up to hold her back by her shoulders. "Easy Kole, he's just a cautious ass is all. Case in point." Drake motioned to his leg and the bleeding hole.

She clasped her hands over her mouth gasping. "Oh my goodness what did he do to you?!"

"It's just a flesh wound!" Drake and Hank exclaimed in unison.

She rolled her eyes, knelt down and put her hand on the bullet wound. "Kole what are you—" her small fingers worked to form Small crystals against his skin, sealing closed the torn flesh and cleansing his body of the poisonous iron. His brows shot up with surprise.

The feeling flowing through him was warm, but not hot warm like he always ways. Just … warm. The crystals on his leg vanished, and with it the pain and bullet wound.

"There," she stood up, but allowed her fingers to ghost up the side of his leg and brush against his own fingers, "You're healed, and anything that may have been left behind is gone."

He resisted the urge to reach out and grab her hand as it drifted away. "I, uh," she paused for a moment but he was struggling to find any words. "Um. Thanks."

Appearing disappointed she gave a small smile and nod. "You're welcome."

"Wow really?" Forgetting that Hank had been there the whole time, the blushing duo quickly moved away from each other. "Oh dear god are you blushing?"

The warrior scoffed. "What are you talking about? I don't blush!"

Hank eyed the two of them before shrugging and moving away. "None of my business, but life's to short for awkwardly pining for one another."

Drake noticed that he began fiddling with something at the other corner of the room. "What are you doing?"

He made his way back to them carrying a belt with two gun holsters, one of which was empty. "Well I have to disappear now, but it wouldn't feel right for me to keep these." He placed his gun back into one of the holsters before handing the belt to him before continuing to move about the room.

He looked at the belt oddly. "I don't like guns."

"Look at the handle!" Hank grumbled.

Drake removed the gun to look at etching that had been made on the bottom of the handle. He went silent, his shoulders tensing causing Kole to look over his shoulder at the crudely drawn lettering. "What's CD mean?"

"It's my sister," he breathed, "Cynthia Daniels. These were hers."

"Finest member of the Hunters Order," Hank called from the other room, "just like the rest of my ancestors."

"The what?"

Drake put the guns back into the holsters and slung the belt over his shoulder. "A group of monster hunters. My sister was one of them, and one of the best."

"Now you can be too." Hank continued meandering about his home, but finally stopped to address the pair. "Now if you two could please, get the hell outta my house."

— _ **:0:—**_

Robin leapt off of Beast Boy's pterodactyl back, landing in front of the entrance that would lead them below to the subways. Most importantly, landing in front of Rose's motorcycle before she went below. She screeched to a stop, breaking on the front wheel of her bike. Without bothering to put the kickstand down, and forgetting Jacqueline was with her, she threw off her helmet and let her bike fall to the ground.

"What the hell?!" She screamed.

"You can't go down there without backup."

"I'm not alone, I have the kid," she gestured to Jacqueline, who was still struggling to get out from under the bike.

Robin was about to lay into her for being stupid and brash, but Beast Boy grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him back. "Both of you cool it!" First he glared at Robin, "You need to calm down, Starfire getting taken wasn't her fault! And you!" Looking over at Rose he softened slightly, "what's going on?"

Breathing hard, she narrowed her eyes from beneath her mask. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"He's right," Jacqueline slid up beside them, looking accusingly at Rose. "I ignored it at first, but you're being stupid. Something happened when you saw that guy, or whatever, now you're all, angry."

She glared with menace at the young woman, who didn't even flinch by her stare. "Maybe I'm just tired of the bird boy not trusting me with anything."

The two stared each other down, Rose seething with anger and Robin fiercely attempting put aside his prejudice for a moment and try to figure her out. It was a few seconds into their staring contest when a cold, yet familiar, feeling washed over them. Raven stepped out from one of her portals walking in on the intense standoff taking place.

Her eyes darted to each member, lingered on Jacqueline for a moment, before landing on her boyfriend.

"Am I interrupting something?"

He quickly grabbed her by the arm and brought her to the feuding group. "No, no, we're just happy you're here Rae." He made it a point to bring Raven in between Robin and Rose. "You were just to give us some news about Cy, right?"

With her hood hiding her features, it was difficult to read her expression when she simply closed her eyes and nodded. "Yes. The counter virus has been administered and I've healed his body."

"See Rob?" Beast Boy practically shouted, "some good luck at last."

Robin however was still examining the demoness, wondering if there was more to the story. But he would have to wonder about it later. He stood aside and motioned to the subway gates.

"We think Starfire and Ryand'r are down there. Do you think you can do some recon for us?"

Knowing exactly what her team leader needed, she got into her signature floating lotus position and began to chant her mantra, thus releasing her soul self into the subway systems.

— _ **:0:—**_

Landon paced aimlessly around the small room, a recorder had been placed beside Starfire while she translated her brothers screams. As important as this was, his thoughts were elsewhere. Every time he looked at the far corner, he saw the darkened figure with the white eyes practicing his golf swing.

 _Since when did he golf? Starfire can't see him, only me, but why am I seeing him?_

Landon's eye began twitching when he felt an unknown presence. Landon took a peek into the astral realm, and there he could see the black and white form of a Raven flying around the room, looking for them.

" _Tell the kids I said hi."_

Landon eyes glazed over into a blood red as he reached out to his minions. "They're here, but I'm not finished yet, I need you to stall them."

An otherworldly voice spoke from the darkness, assuring the king of demons that it would be taken care of.

— _ **:0:—**_

Her violet eyes snapped open when her soul self slammed back into her body, dropping her to the ground from her floating.

"Well?" Robin asked.

Beast Boy helped her to her feet. "I saw them. They're alive, but we need to hurry. Landon knows we're here." She didn't feel it necessary to tell them that Ryand'r was being tormented, while Starfire listened.

"Any traps or stuff we need to worry about?" Beast Boy asked.

She shook her head. "Nothing I could see, doesn't mean there isn't anything beyond even my sight."

"Alright, no traps," Jacqueline clapped her hands to get their attention, "so let's go and kick some demon ass."

She was already heading down when Raven pulled her beau aside. "So that's Drake's daughter?"

"Yeah, how'd you know?"

She shrugged. "Lucky guess."

"Guys," Robin pulled back everyone's attention before descending the steps, "where's Rose?"

— _ **:0:—**_

She moved stealthily through the tunnels, gloved hands gripping her blades, teeth clenched and eyes peeled for the slightest movement. She didn't have time for plans or waiting and especially not for Robin. Among the many things she had lost, from her brothers to her father, and everything in between, she never in a million years thought she'd see him again.

Eddie Bloomberg. The goofball that had her heart for as long as he was alive. Wasn't he dead? Why is he back? What happened to him?

Those questions, while infuriating, didn't stop her from wanting to see, hold, or be with him again. He just had a lot of explaining to do.

She had to find him first.

Coming to a fork, she decided on going left. It was just a guess, and a few steps in She stopped, her boots slushing in the puddles of water beneath her, muscles tense as the grip on her blades adjusted. She took a few breaths making sure the rise and fall of her chest was steady and even. All of her father's training soon came flooding into her mind and with peeled senses she spoke aloud.

"I know you're here. Might as well come on out and get this over with." She turned her head to the shadows surrounding her, seemingly at nothing. "Well. What are you waiting for? COME ON!?"

Fangs and claws sprung from the shadows, ready to meet her swords.

— _ **:0:—**_

Robin, Beast Boy, Jacqueline and the flying Raven moved through the tunnels trying to keep an eye out for Rose, but also anything else that could get in their way.

"She couldn't have gone far," Beast Boy called out.

"Her emotions are all over the place," Raven spoke from the air, "she's angry, confused, hurt, and for some reason, heartbroken."

As they ran they found themselves at a fork, causing them to pause. "Which way?" Robin asked.

Raven glanced down each tunnel, allowing her empathy to reach out until it located Rose and her red hot emotional output. Finally she pointed down the left hand tunnel. "That way."

Before continuing down the tunnel she had indicated, a bright red vortex materialized in front of them before a red skinned young man emerged.

"Him!" Jacqueline pointed, "he's the guy that took Starfire!"

"That's all I need to hear," Robin extended his bow staff as the other Titans and Jacqueline got into a fighting stance.

The red skinned kid held up His hands. "Hey there, what makes you think I wanna fight? Maybe I just wanna talk?"

"So talk," Robin growled, "who are you and where's Starfire and Ryand'r."

He motioned to the tunnel he stood in front of. "Down there, and you can call me Kid Devil."

Robin paused a moment. "Not possible. Kid Devil is dead."

Kid Devil held his arms out gesturing to himself. "Yet here I am. Oh and FYI, mister Landon has sent some of his demon, Imp thingys after some civilians down that-a-way." He motioned to the other tunnel. "Apparently not all the Subway systems are out of order."

 _Damn it,_ Robin growled to himself, _Landon's trying to separate us to make us weaker. Guess we don't have a choice._

"Raven, take Jacqueline and go protect those people."

"Wait what?" Before Jacqueline could protest further, darkness surrounded her in the form of Raven's cloak and transported the two to parts unknown.

"Alright then," The red teen cracked his knuckles that began sparking with embers, "let's do this."

— _ **:0:—**_

Just as Kid Devil has said, the working subways had been overrun by Imps. Gangly, long limbed, clawed and fanged beasts that chased down Jump Cities civilians and began ripping and tearing with an insatiable hunger. Some were able to get away, but many weren't.

With fangs bared, the hell beast pounced, hungry for human flesh, only to be stopped by a black wall of mystic energy. A wall in the shape of a bird.

The imp soldiers cowered just as the shape shifted, this time into the form of two young girls preparing for battle.

The Teen Titan Raven flew high over the demonic horde, her form looming over the beasts sending fear into their hearts.

"I'm only going to say this once," she spoke in a hellish, guttural tone, "the only demon allowed in this city, ever again, is ME!" and with a fierce battle cry she brought herself on top of the creatures.

The other girl followed, eager to deliver her own brand of pain, all while watching the Dark Titan. "Whoa she's scary …. awesome."

— _ **:0:—**_

The Boy Wonder slammed against the wall after a fearsome fire kick landed against the flat of his back. "I was expecting more from a Robin." Eddie chuckled. "Hold that thought." He disappeared into one of his fiery portals just as a green ram charged at him from behind.

Beast Boy jerked his head side to side comically looking for the red skinned youth only for him to appear right above him.

"Not cool to sneak up on people, bro!" Fists ablaze he came down on top of Beast Boy like a flaming meteorite until he was kicked in the ribs and away from Beast Boy.

Eddie skipped across the ground, but managed to get into a crouching position to see who had attacked him. He didn't recognize him, but he did know the necklace that he wore. A crystal with a dragon wrapping around it, just like Landon said.

"You must be Drake?" He got to his feet as if he wasn't in immense pain. Though he was essentially winning, Robin and Beast Boy were certainly giving him a run for his money. Still he couldn't show any weakness. "I guess this is awkward, meeting the new guy."

Beast Boy, back in human form, scoffed. "Yeah right dude!" He threw his arm around the knights shoulders. "Drake here traded up!"

"Remove your arm."

"Okay."

Drake stepped towards Eddie, but spoke to the two Titans. "Robin, Beast Boy, go find Starfire and her brother and I'll deal with our red friend here." Drake removed his special blade and tossed it to Robin. "Just in case."

He was a bit stunned, but he still caught Drake's blade, and the meaning behind it.

"Sorry bro," Eddie warned, "but I can't let them go anywhere."

Without warning, Drake charged, but Eddie met him halfway, throwing his flaming fists at his face. Drake caught both of them easily and the two clasped hands and pushed against the other.

He smirked wickedly as he turned up the heat through his hands, not even noticing the two remaining Titans sneak last him. "Can you take the heat, Dragon Boy?"

Drake's eyes shifted into fiery black slits, "You have no idea."

His smirk faded. No hesitation, no sweat, no problem. Drake was matching his fire with his own and wasn't backing down. "FYI, Hellfire is the strongest fire around, but there's a reason that the devil is referred to as "The Dragon"." He threw his knee into his ribs, then kicked his Ankle and knee to further take him to the ground. One punch to the face, grabbed him by his shoulders and slammed him into the wall.

Seeing stars, Eddie struggled to get to his hands and knees. "Stay down kid," Drake called, "you have no idea what you're getting yourself into."

He couldn't help the anger boiling inside of him. Not at Drake, but his insinuation. "You think I want this?" His powers worked to heal the injuries Drake had dealt him while he fumed with rage. "I don't want to work for him! I don't want to hurt anybody! I never wanted any of this! I just…" he froze, looking down at the ground with an expression that looked a bit like shame. "I just wanted to matter. Now look at me."

"I can help you."

Eddie scoffed. "Yeah right. No one can help me, not against him. I have to help myself." He sprang forward, hoping to catch Drake off guard, but he dodged each blow effortlessly, and landed a few himself. This only fueled Eddies anger.

So rage fueled he began swinging madly with his fists in all directions trying to land just one on the knight. He swung backwards when he felt someone place a hand on his shoulder. Friendly or not he didn't care, he swung backwards, landing a flaming strike against the left side of their face.

The chaos settled for a moment, giving him a chance to look at who he had just attacked. To his horror, Rose Wilson was writhing in pain on the floor, clutching the left side of her face were her eye was supposed to be.


	11. the king of Hell

**As you can see, if I had this chapter and last chapter put together it would have been a looooooong one, thankfully it was already halfway done, so the wait wasnt that long.**

 **Got one more chapter and this bad boy is done!**

 **you excited? I am.**

 **on with the show!**

 **Chapter 11: ….the Lord of Hell.**

With her fists encrusted in ice, Jacqueline delivered another series of blows to an Imps skull until it was on the ground bleeding from the open wound. Sure she couldn't kill them, but that didn't stop her from beating what little sense out of their heads. Adding more ice to her makeshift weapons of choice, she fashioned it into a blade and took its head off.

"One down," she breathed, "and …" she saw three more Imps heading right for civilians that had taken cover at the far corner of the platform. If not for a wall of black magic, they would have been torn to shreds.

Raven landed beside her, expanding her shield so that it blocked off the remaining creatures from any straggling pedestrians. "Go! Get out of here!" They wasted no time in gathering themselves and leaving.

"Idiots," Jacqueline mumbled, "why not leave while they could."

Raven strained to keep her shield up, and to keep her full power from being unleashed. "That's not the point," She strained, "You need to freeze them."

She stuck her lower lip out mockingly, "Awe, where's the fun in that?"

Before Raven could scold her, the Imps slashing against her shield froze in place, being encased in large stone crystals.

Sighing with exhaustion, Raven lowered her hands and the wall. "Thank you."

Jacqueline however was looking puzzled. "That wasn't me."

Raven scanned the crystals, until her eyes flitted to the air to a familiar face floating towards them.

"That was me actually," Kole smiled, "don't worry, these guys aren't going anywhere." Raven gave a half smile before bending over in nausea. "Raven?" Kole approached her with outstretched hands, but Raven took a step back.

"I'm okay, but you'll want to stay back." She cautioned, "my uglier side has been acting up lately and I think your angel-ness is making me dizzy."

While Kole was concerned, she couldn't help but giggle. "'Angel-ness'? Adopting some of Beast Boy's habits I see."

Flushing, Raven glared. "Don't even joke about that." She stood up straight looking from Kole to Jacqueline. "Kole, this is Jacqueline."

Kole smiled warmly. "Nice to meet you."

Jacqueline nodded in response, but didn't say much else. "Ditto."

Raven waited for more, but it was clear that Jacqueline was done. "Come on, we've got to get back to Robin and Beast Boy. That way." She indicated down the tunnel and motioned for Kole to go ahead of them. "Hold on." Raven held her arm out to stop Jacqueline from following.

"I thought we had to get back?" She asked confused.

"We do, but you need to know one of the rules of being a hero is the protection of the innocent first, then fighting the bad guys."

Jacqueline rolled her eyes. "I know. I've just never been good with the whole 'hero' thing. I was raised mostly by hunters, different world ya know."

Raven thought back to when she had first met Drake, "I'm starting to. You'll get it, assuming this is what you want."

Shrugging, Jacqueline noticed that Kole was waiting for them. She Jacqueline cleared her throat and clapped her hands. "Alright. So, uh, demons, gotta stop 'em right. Let's go kick demon ass."

Brushing past them, she headed down the tunnel leaving Kole and Raven to watch her curiously.

"Oh god," Kole Groaned, "there's two of them."

— _ **:0:—**_

"ROSE!" Eddie fell to his hands and knees beside her as she writhed in absolute agony, gripping the side of her face where he had struck her. "Oh god! I-I'm so sorry! I didn't— I didn't mean —" He reached for her, but quickly took his hands away.

Molten tears began sliding down his cheeks. "What—What did I—what—" looking down at his hands, they slowly closed to form two furious fists, "What did he do?" Eyes burning a bright yellow orange he snarled at Drake. "Look what you made me do!"

Drake ignored his growling, looking past him down at the screaming Rose. "I can help her, you just need me—". Thick black tendrils reached from the shadows, wrapping around his limbs and dragging him kicking and fighting until the darkness absorbed him into the nothingness.

Eddie searched frantically for the Knight, but for now his anger would have to be unsatisfied, regardless of how misplaced it was.

He went back to Rose. Hands now gently cradling her head. "L-let me see."

Sniffling, and still is excruciating pain, she moved her hands. "Oh … god." Her left eye, as well as the surrounding flesh, was completely gone.

"L-L-Look on the bright side," she said trying to muster a smile, "I'm one step closer to being like my dad." Feeling her begin to get cold, he picked her up bridal style and headed for the exit. "Where are we going?"

"I'm taking you to the hospital." She was about to argue with him, but slowly found her hands wrapping around his neck.

— _ **:0:—**_

Such as the name would suggest, the platform was rustic, decrepit, and definitely abandoned. Spinning in all directions, there wasn't any sign of their missing teammates, or any place where they could possibly be being kept.

Frustrated, and unable to think of anything else, Robin put his hands to his mouth. "STARFIRE!"

"Dude!" Beast Boy smacked him across his arm, "you wanna wake the dead?"

Fighting the urge to bite his head off, he asked. "Well can you see any place where they might be?"

Beast Boy began examining the platform until his attention was pulled to the darkened tunnel of the tracks. "Would old train cars work?"

Following his line of sight, Robin found a few old train cars out of use and out of sight, making them the perfect hiding place.

"We'll check it out, but be on your guard." After a mock salute, the pair crept silently towards the cars, Robin in particular had his senses on alert for anything that could lead him to Starfire. Stepping deeper into the tunnels they noticed that the windows of the cars appeared to have been blacked out, making it impossible to see anything inside.

"Looks like this is the right place. No other reason to black out windows unless you don't want anyone to see what your doing?"

Although Robin was focused and in a fighting mode, even he couldn't pass up this opportunity. "Very good Beast Boy. Your becoming quite the detective."

Robin grabbed onto the door handle, ready to pull it open, but first motioned for Beast Boy to be ready to attack. He nodded, excepting the silent order, and got his body ready to shift at a moments notice. With his fingers, Robin counted down from three….two….one.

With the door now wide open, Beast Boy leapt into the car, shifting mid air into a tiger, and let out a roar. However the train car was empty, save for the Tameranean Princess strapped to a chair.

Robin pushed passed him, eyes landing on her instantly and quickly looked her over for obvious wounds. No blood or obvious markings, but she appeared exhausted and her usually upbeat spirit seemed broken. One look at her friends was all she needed for her face to light up.

"Robin!"

He was by her side in a second, working to undo the straps. Once she was free he asked, "Are you okay St—" with powerful Tameranean arms she pulled him into a tight… tight hug, "S—Star—"

"Apologies," she released him enough so that their eyes could meet, but still had her hands draped over his shoulders, "I am just delighted in the rescue."

He chuckled before cupping the side of her face with his hand, his demeanor shifting back into anger. "I swear to you—"

"Robin," she brushed his hand away and moved to place her own hands onto his face, "you and I are one. I love you and you love me, we have been friends forever and we do so much together. So please. May we participate in the seeking the acts of vengeance together?"

Completely infatuated, he melted into her touch. "Yes. I would like that very much."

They continued swooning over each other and hadn't stopped until the green tiger began prowling towards the door on the opposite end of the car. A deep growl rumbling in his throat.

Robin helped Starfire to her feet. "My brother is on the other side of that door."

"Then let's go get him." Arming himself with Drake's demon killing blade, he went to the door and grabbed the handle to the door, mirroring the same move they had done when they entered a few moments ago.

He glanced at Starfire and Beast Boy, both of whom nodded as an indication that they were ready and In one swift move Robin threw open the door.

Starfire gasped in both shock and fury seeing her baby brother slumped over in the chair he was strapped to, unconscious and bleeding from various wounds. Her rage moved from her brother to his chubby, beady eyed tormentor who was in the middle of removing the thorns from his head.

Fear overtook the demon causing him to drop the talons and put out his hands.

"N-Now hold on," he stammered, "I was just following orders."

Starfire stomped towards him slowly, eyes sparking with green energy that burned against the metal of the train car. "I heard you take pleasure in his pain."

Chancellor continued to flail his hands, pitifully trying to explain himself, but the Titans weren't having any of it. He retreated until his back was against the door that would take them to the next car, but none of them intended on letting him leave.

Robin lifted the knife towards him, ready and willing to threaten, stab and whatever else he had to in order to get what he—

Starfire grabbed the blade and with a fearsome battle cry, put the dagger into the demons chest.

It all happened so fast, Robin didn't have any time to even attempt to stop her, but now had to deal with the aftermath, especially when she withdrew the blade and pierced him again… and again … and again.

"Starfire stop!"

Beast Boy shifted back and the two earthling boys tried to pry her off of the corpse. She wouldn't budge, not until she had gotten in a few more stabs.

"STARFIRE ENOUGH! Ryand'r!"

As if she was just hit with a bat, she gasped, dropped the knife and hurried to her brother. Robin looked down at the demon, shaking his head and sighing with frustration. "Damn it. There goes our chance at finding out what Landon wanted."

"Ryand'r!"

Back with the Tameraneans, Starfire cradled her brothers head. Eyes closed, blood dripping from his head, face, and arms.

"Ryand'r?!" She shrieked again, as Robin and Beast Boy worked to unstrap him. With him free Robin felt his jugular looking for a vein.

He released a small smile. "He's alive."

They helped him from the chair and to the floor. "You sure, he's not moving."

Beast Boy's question was answered when Ryand'r let out a low groan.

"K-Kori…"

"Yes, yes, I am here." She cradled his head until he opened his eyes. "There you are."

The overhead speakers crackled to life. " _Good afternoon folks, we are still waiting for a few more of our passengers to arrive, so sit back and relax and Thank you for riding, the D Train."_

The speaker crackled off, but they didn't have to wonder who the voice belonged to, or where he was.

— _ **:0:—**_

Like cloth being pulled, the shadows that had taken Drake had slithered away to deposit him onto the cold metal ground of main subway car. He knew that it was Landon that brought him here considering that it was only when traveling with him that made him dizzy and queasy.

Without waiting for the nausea to pass he shouted into the darkness. "I know your here Landon. Might as well come out and say 'hi'."

It was a few moments before the door at the far end of the car slid open revealing the lord of hell sitting casually in a conductor's hat while swinging the trains walkie in his hand.

Drake rolled his eyes as he got to his feet. "Can you look any more ridiculous?"

Landon snorted a laugh, "Now that's a silly question considering you know the answer."

Drake nodded his head. "Now the real question—"

"Starfire and her brother are alive and …. well they're alive. As for what your doing here, we have to wait until the rest of our guests arrive before I answer that since I hate repeating myself."

Drake tilted his head. "Repeating yourself?"

Landon looked at him like he had asked a stupid question. "Duh. I'm about to monologue my dastardly scheme." He motioned to the doors at the back of the car. "Speaking of which…"

The door swung inward allowing Robin and Beast Boy to enter, both in battle mode. Taking a quick headcount Drake asked. "Where's Starfire?"

Seeing as how Robin had a laser focus on Landon, he spoke with venom through his teeth. "She and her brother are in the other car. Starfire is watching over him while we take care of him."

Landon nearly choked on his laughter. "Let's see, judging the ideals you were taught, you won't kill me, not like you could if you wanted to and no prison on earth can hold me. So tell me, Boy Wonder, how exactly do you plan to 'take care of me'?" Robins only response was to glare from beneath his mask as his hands tightened on his bow staff. "Hold that thought."

I black portal formed on the side of the car, allowing Raven, Kole and Jacqueline to join there fellow Titans. "Now the gangs, well, mostly here."

Ignoring his jab, Raven floated above the others, eyes white with rage and cloak billowing in a wind that her anger had created. When she spoke, she spoke in a demonic growl that rattled the train car. " **As the daughter of Trigon the terrible, I vow you will pay for what you've done to my family. Pay dearly."**

Landon watched the young demoness exercise her power with mild amusement, but didn't appear intimidated in the least. He got to his feet and removed his train conductor's hat, speaking to the article of clothing like an old friend.

"Over the last few years, I've been working tirelessly to make sure other demonic overlords didn't break down the doors of this world, and for the most part have been successful. 'Jump' they said, and I leapt, because it was all for the greater good of hell and humanity. Then one day, I had a startling revelation."

"Yeah?" Beast Boy snarled, "what's that?"

Landon looked at the Titans with eyes the color of dried blood, smiling grin that would make the devil himself proud. " **I'm the king of Hell."**

Lights that had been on in the car began to flicker and dim before the car began rocking side to side. Kole let out a shriek of pain and crumbled to her knees, arms wrapping around herself as if someone had stabbed her in the abdomen.

Drake went to her side, reaching out to her in worry, "Kole what's wrong?!"

Looking outside the windows of the car, the darkness began to be tinted with an orange red glow, Lighting the silhouettes of hands pounding and clawing at the metal. It may not have been as bad where it not for the unholy sounds of screams and wailing that echoed in the darkness.

Not fully understanding the situation, Robin did the only thing he could think of. "Titans GO!"

Landon effortlessly began to engage the young heroes. " **The souls of the damned beg me for mercy,"** he caught Robin's incoming bowstaff, " **they beg ME to wet their tongues with even a drop of water,"** with a small shove he slammed Robin into the wall just as a green tiger jumped at him, " **I command all of hell's armies under one flag. MINE!"** He held out his hand, stopping the tiger in mid air, " **every hell beast in creation bows to ME!"** He flicked his wrist, throwing Beast Boy against the back wall with a thud.

Raven created orbs of black and white energy above her head before shrieking, " **Azarath Metrion ZINTHOS!** " Like missiles they launched at Landon, but for added measure Jacqueline froze the orbs into solid ice projectiles.

Landon snapped his fingers, turning the orbs into fireballs that vanished instantly. " **All creatures born of hellfire owe their allegiance to ME! I command the souls of the forgotten! I am King!"** He blasted Raven and Jacqueline back with a shot of black energy. " **I am HELL, and that space rock will make sure this world Is bathed in hellfire."**

Drake helped the distressed Kole over to Raven and Jacqueline before placing himself between Landon and his daughter. Eyes dark slits and forked tongue lapping at his fangs he hissed, "Not another step."

Landon chuckled deep in his throat. " **You think you can command me?"**

Drake stepped closer allowing his humanity to overtake the beast. "So this is it huh? Your grand master plan? You want the Marker?" Landon was silent to his question. "Do you have ANY idea what that thing is capable of?"

Landon rolled his eyes. " **No I want the rock for the pretty scribbles—** "

"THIS ISN'T A GAME!" He shouted, a mixture of worry, anger and pleading in his tone. "That thing spreads evil, blood and pain as easily as breathing."

Once again, Landon grinned. " **It can create an army by merely existing. Believe me darling, I know very well what it's capable of."** The two old friends were now nose to nose with each other, ignoring the sounds of wailing around them. " **Let's just see how brightly heaven shines when every soul belongs to me."**

Drake couldn't help but feel horrified. "Listen to me. We've had our differences recently, but I have always trusted you, you've been like a brother to me. Now I'm begging you, as a brother, NOT to do this! I don't know why you want that thing and I don't care, just PLEASE!"

For the smallest of moments, Landon appeared to be considering Drake's request, until his head jerked to the side as if someone or something was speaking to him.

" **Apologies, old friend,"** Black energy shot at Drake that slammed him into the wall, " **but I have to do this, and if you stay out of my way I will show you mercy. Don't, and you will all know what it's like to feel every ounce of hells wrath."** He looked around at the fallen Titans, unable to do anything but watch. " **Sound lovely my dears?"**

BOOM!

A blast of light lit the subway car, and for a moment dimmed the chaos outside to a dull roar. They looked away from the light until it faded revealing someone oddly familiar. Dark skinned and covered in metal that was sleek, thick and brand new.

"Yo!" Cyborg cries, "Who's messin' with my family?!"

They may not have recognized him, but they sure knew his voice.

Landon looked him up and down. " **Nice blouse. Clearance section?"**

Cyborg lifted his arm as it shifted into a new and dangerous looking cannon. "Only the most expensive deals for this bad boy. Now let my team go or—"

" **What? Gonna blast me with your scary new toy? You haven't been out to long, or don't you remember that it's not that easy to kill a demon."**

"Nope," Landon turned back to Drake who had just finished drawing a symbol onto the wall of the train in his own blood, "but you can distract them."

" **NO**!"

Drake slapped his blood covered hand onto the symbol releasing a stream of fire that wrapped itself around the demon before absorbing him into the symbol. Once Landon had vanished, the chaos and the wailing from outside disappeared, bringing them back to the earth and into silence.

It was quiet for a few minutes, each of the Titans waiting and listening for the next thing to happen, but all was still.

"Dude, What did you do to him?"

Drake looked back at the symbol. "Little trick I learned from earlier. I sent him back to hell, but he'll be back, and upset."

Robin helped Beast Boy to his feet. "In that case, let's get outta here before then." He paused by Cyborg. "How did you get here?"

Cyborg puffed out his new chest. "Boom tube tech integrated right into my new body. I can get us to the tower too."

"Sounds good," Raven droned, "I don't feel like teleporting us."

Robin nodded. "Titans. Let's go home."


	12. Hell to Raise

**Yay! its over!**

 **what were your thoughts? was it boring? what more did you want to see? what do you want to see in the future? im still open to suggestions as to what else should be seen in the series.**

 **Anyways, more to come at the end. See ya then.**

 **on with the show.**

 **Chapter 12: Hell to Raise.**

He had been dead for at least a couple of years, but he still remembered plainly the looks he'd get from people. Everything between Fascination to outright fear. Sure the people of Jump City were used to oddities, but that didn't stop them from looking him up and down as if he was the devil himself. They didn't have to worry, He wasn't the devil, he worked for him.

Eddie did his best to ignore the looks from the hospital staff and instead kept his attention on Rose.

His heart broke all over again seeing her out cold on the hospital bed, the left side of her face bandaged and scarred from what he had done. As much as he tried to spin it by placing the blame on someone else, the fact of the matter was that it was his fault, and his alone.

He sighed all of the air out of his body before flopping into nearby chair.

"I'm, uh, not sure if you can hear me," he began, "I guess I have a lot of explaining to do." He suddenly found his tongue going dry, at a complete loss for words. Unable to properly think of what to say he simply blurted out, "I'm sorry for… just disappearing on you. If it means anything it wasn't my choice… we'll it kinda was, I mean I was the one that sold my soul after all. Just never thought about the day when he'd collect. I was a kid after all, we're all stupid around that time." He paused. "I'm kinda rambling huh?"

A strange burning sensation began to tickle the back of his neck causing him to rub the irritated spot with exhaustion. "Sorry, but I have to go. His majesty calls." He stood up and made his way to her side, rubbing the back of his finger against the scarred skin of her arm. "I have no idea when or if I'll see you again, but…" tears stung the back of his eyes, "... just know that I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry…"

He contemplated putting a kiss on her forehead, or maybe her red lips, but the sensation in the back of his neck was getting worse, even for him, so he decided against it. Instead opting to kiss the tips of his fingers and place them on her head before finally vanishing from her room.

— _ **:0:—**_

"Ugh… uh… oh yeah… that's right… boo-yah…"

"Dude, are you done yet?"

Cyborg ignored his best friend, opting to continue flexing his new mechanical parts in the mirror of his room. "You just jealous cuz I make this look oh so good."

Beast Boy shook his head, laughing to himself as he leaned back on Cyborg charging table with his hands behind his head. "Alright, it is pretty slick, still you have to do this with me here?"

"Ain't no one askin' you to stay green bean."

"Actually, Both Robin and your dad want me to keep an eye on you to make sure your, uh, not metal stuff, uh…"

"—make sure my organic material merge well with the metal grafted to my skin?"

"... yeah… that." He got quiet, just watching Cyborg continue to examine himself. "All jokes aside dude, you scared the hell out of us. Especially me."

Cyborg slowed to a stop, looking passed himself in the mirror down at Beast Boy. "I know man. It was scary for me too, but also," He turned around, thinking about his next words, "enlightening."

Beast Boy snorted. "Like a 'near death experience' or Seeing a 'bright light' or something?"

Cyborg smiled. "Something like that. I still don't get it all myself, but once I figure it all out I'll probably share with ya." He kicked at the ground awkwardly. "Didn't you experience—?"

Beast Boy was already shaking his head. "I don't remember much about what happened when I, erm, you know. Anyways I don't like to talk about anyways. I'm just glad you're back in action."

"We all are." Both Titans looked at the bedroom door just as Raven and Robin stepped to the room.

"Some of us more than others." Without waiting for permission, not like she ever needed it, Raven closed the distance between herself and Cyborg and threw her arms around his neck. "Don't ever do that again, or I'll travel to heaven myself and throw you into another dimension."

He barked with laughter. "Deal."

Robin nodded approvingly before turning to Beast Boy. "I need you and Raven to head down to the hospital and get Rose."

Beast Boy tilted his head. "How did she end up there?"

He shrugged. "Not sure. Make sure to ask her." He turned to Raven. "Do you have all the Titan insurance cards and all that?"

She patted one of the orbs on her belt. "Of course. You just make sure to contact Constantine to negotiate my sentence."

Cyborg looked away from himself looking down at his surrogate sister with a wide hopeful eye. "Wait? Are you—"

She was already shaking her head. "I'm not free yet, but certain considerations need to be taken."

Cyborg held out a hand. "That's all I needed to hear. Even if there's a chance of you coming home early, we need to take it."

"Don't worry Raven," Robin continued, "I'll make sure Constantine knows." Raven gave an appreciative nod before grabbing onto Beast Boy and heading off to the hospital.

With just Robin and Cyborg, the Boy Wonder folded his arms before moving side to side on the calls of his feet.

"Look, Cy—"

"I know Rob," the half metal man approached his team leader, "It's good to be back my man." The two shook hands before bracing each other in a classic "bro hug".

Breaking apart, Robin kept his gaze averted so he didn't see the tears of joy. "Alright so, erm, get back to work on the tower. That's an order."

Cyborg gave a mock salute. "You got it boss man. By the way, I was wondering if it was cool that my dad and Sarah help out rebuilding the tower."

Robin pinched his brows in confusion. "Rebuild?"

"Yeah, well, there are some modifications I wanna make. Our Titan family is growing after all."

Robin looked down at the ground suddenly deep in thought. "Yeah, I guess it is huh?"

Cyborg looked at him oddly when he noticed how strange Robin seemed to get. Ignoring it he changed the subject. "How's Ryand'r and Star."

"Good," he responded quickly, "he's still in some pain, but Raven will be able to help him out. She'll also help clear his mind of anything involving the Marker so no one else can come looking for it."

"Can she even do that?"

Robin shrugged before exiting the room. "We'll see."

Cyborg watched his team leader vanish before returning to his reflection. He smiled, not because of how much he liked the look of himself, but because for the first time in a long time he felt… complete.

— _ **:0:—**_

Drake scribbled a few words onto a piece of paper before pinning it onto the wall of his room. He connected a long piece of red thread from the paper to another before taking a step back to admire his handy work.

"Nope. Not weird at all."

Drake didn't need to turn around to know that Jacqueline was the one that interrupted him. She had a distinct scent that reminded him of her mother Elsa, springtime if you could believe it, and a hint of brimstone.

"It helps to get my thoughts out." He mumbled.

He could hear her footsteps come closer to him looking over his shoulder at the papers on the wall. "Whatcha thinkin'?"

Drake pointed to a paper that read "Landon" and underneath his name read, "dastardly plan?". "Landon said he had a 'dastardly plan' involving this," he traced the red thread to another piece of paper that said "Marker". "The thing is, Landon once told me that he doesn't do dastardly, or nefarious schemes."

"What does that mean?"

"You know," Drake shrugged, "taking over the world, Rubbing his hands together while laughing menacingly kinda thing."

Jacqueline nodded. "And that one?" She pointed to the other piece of paper. This one with a red thread connecting to Landon's paper with the word "Jacob" scribbled above the words "punishing Landon's contacts".

He lost himself in thought again. "Just something Kole said that stuck with me.."

It was silent for a minute or so. "You and this, Kole, huh?"

Snapping away from his thoughts he looked down at her: "What are you talking about?"

She rolled her eyes. "Come on, I saw the way you threw yourself at her in the subway car. I'm young, not dumb."

Drake went back to staring at the wall. "A while ago, but not anymore."

She rolled her eyes again with a shake of her head and spun towards the door. "Yeah right."

"Why are you here?" He called after her.

Without turning to face him she responded, "Robin told me to find one of the vacant room to crash in. I just … wondered in here. Sorry."

Drake could hear her walking away, but didn't bother going after her to try and "figure" her out. Looking over his wall again he reached for his communicator and sent a text message.

" **Did you get back okay?"**

A few minutes later came a response. " **Yeah. Jacob wasn't to happy about me leaving without telling him."**

" **How are you feeling?"**

" **Better. Half angels can't really go into either heaven or hell."**

He waited a moment, trying to think of his next wordings carefully. " **I'm not sure what's going on, but keep an eye on Jacob. I'm not sure if I trust him right now."**

A few minutes later she responded. " **I think your right."**

" **Kole, please be careful."**

" **:D. It's cute that you care. But you know how well I can take care of myself. ;)."**

He looked at the text message oddly. " **Not to change the subject, but what does a colon and a capital D mean?"**

A pause. " **LOL! Ask your bff Beast Boy."**

— _ **:0:—**_

Robin lingered outside the doors to the common room watching the tender scene before him. Starfire and her brother were sitting peacefully on the large, albeit wet, couch with her brothers head resting on her shoulder. His heart warmed as a lump formed in his throat. How he wished that he would someday stumble upon someone whom he loved and lost, but unfortunately not everyone was as lucky as her.

He'd just have to settle for the family he had in the present. And he found absolutely nothing wrong with that.

He moved quietly through the common room until he had made it to the Tameranean siblings. Starfire offered a tired, but warm smile to her boyfriend.

"How you guys doing?"

She nodded, "I am well."

"As am I," Ryand'r mumbled from her shoulder, "if not extremely exhausted."

Robin looked him over, noticing the dried blood that his sister worked tirelessly to clean him of. He still had small holes in his head, but surprisingly he didn't seem to bothered by them. Must be something supernatural that he wasn't aware of.

"As soon as Raven gets back, she'll be able to help heal you." Ryand'r responded with a weak nod just as Jacqueline entered the common room with a certain "huff" to her step.

"Jacqueline? You alright? Did you find a room?"

At first she glared at him, but took a few breaths. "Yeah, I did. A small one on the mid level."

He tilted his head. "But there are larger ones on the lower levels." The look on her face told him what he needed to know. "Oh. Does this mean you won't be sticking around?"

She looked around the common room, taking in all the details that she could before shrugging a shoulder. "Well. It's not THAT bad being here."

He chuckled, easily seeing through her "tough girl" act. "I think you'd be a great addition to the Titans."

She shrugged again. "I guess so. Do I need, like, a superhero name or suit or something? Cuz I already have a name." His eyes widened a bit. "Don't get excited, I already had the name when I trained with monster hunters back in the day. They used to call me Jack Frost."

"Hmm, I like it." Turning around, Drake stepped towards them. "It's very fitting for you."

She tilted her head in a shrugging manner, but Robin caught the tiny tilt to her lip. He gave her some more instructions to help set her up in her new room and after a few more minutes were joined by Raven and Beast Boy, home from the hospital.

"Where's Rose?" He asked.

Beast Boy threw up his hand in dismissal. "She said she needed to get something from her room."

"The doctors did what they could," Raven continued, "but she refused treatment, even from me."

"Did she manage to tell you what happened?"

Raven shook her head. "She feels very… defeated and hopeless. You might want to give her time before you talk to her."

Defeated and hopeless? The words rang in his head. What did they mean? Was it his fault?

Seeing that her words were resonating with him she made her way to the Tameraneans, but focused especially on Ryand'r.

They sat up when she stepped in front of them. "Ryand'r my name is Raven. I'm going to help to heal the wounds on your body and mind, but also I'm going to wipe your mind of anything involving, this Marker thing. Is that alright… Ryand'r?"

Ryand'r seemed to be lost in his own thoughts as his large green eyes became fixated on the young woman before him.

"Apologies, but i've never known darkness to be so… beautiful."

Ravens cheeks began to burn as the rest of the common room gaped waiting for her reaction. She tilted her head with a small smile. "Your sweet, and i'll be taking that as a yes?"

"O-oh Yes, yes please. I don't want anyone else having what's in my head."

She motioned for Ryand'r to lay down on the couch as she glanced at her still slack jawed boyfriend. "Take notes Gar, you could learn a few things."

Beast Boy shook his head scoffing. "What are you talking about?! I've still got game. Ya know what, have your fun, cuz I've still got my bro Drake here."

He threw his shoulder over the glaring knight. "No you don't."

"Awe Drake," he closed the space between them with a hug, "i've missed us."

"Get your arms off before I beat you within an inch of your life."

"No."

Raven shook her head and put her hands against the sides of Ryand'r's head. "This shouldn't hurt, but may take some time."

"Just take care of my baby brother, Raven." Starfire held her brothers hand, her thumb gently moving affectionately over his skin. Her returned her gesture with a squeeze of his hand.

Robin stood back looking down at his family arguing, comforting, and accepting one another.

"Yup, my family."

— _ **:0:—**_

Pain.

Physical, emotional and everything in between, weighed down on her like elephants sitting on her shoulders. Her dad was gone, her brother Grant was gone, Joey was an angel of the lord, and her first love was alive and serving the lord of hell.

She popped a few pain pills before examining the scarring on the left side of her face, rendering her blind. She made her way to her bed, digging out a box she had hid underneath. Sifting through her possessions she removed one item in particular and went back to the mirror.

Her fingers traced the black leather of the eyepatch, regarding it like an old friend, probably the only one she had, Tucked the strap under her hair and fastened the eyepatch over her left eye.

"See daddy," she spoke with a new sense of pride, "I'm just like you now."

— _ **:0:—**_

Their orders were simple.

Wait.

So majority of his minions decided to meet him at his favorite hotel located in Manchester, England. They were warned however that his encounter with the Titans may have left him a bit irritated. After all it was obvious to all of his underlings that Landon didn't care much for hell, and having been sent there against his Will was surely to make him grumpy.

On edge, they anxiously awaited his return, each one to terrified to speak, or even move. The Landon they had previously thought to have been the soft, push over type, had slowly vanished. What was responsible for this change, no one knew, or dared to even ask.

The doors to the suite flung open, each of them getting to attention as the demon lord stomped towards the bar. Silently, but with an air of fury and anger, he began to prepare himself a drink, Never once did he acknowledge those around him.

It was only a few minutes into the silence that one demon, in the body of a local construction worker, stepped forward. His other compatriots shook their heads, silently pleading for him not to bother their lord, but he ignored them.

"E-Excuse me, m-m-my lord, but we were wondering, what it is you want of us?"

Without looking up to acknowledge his presence, Landon spoke in a low, aggravated tone. "Get out."

His minions exchanged glances. "S-s-sir it was my understanding that you would have—"

"I said OUUUUUUUUUUT!" His voice echoed throughout the corners of his domain, sending his minions back into its depths until they faded from this world and into nothingness.

With his breathing ragged he ran his hands through his hair attempting to calm himself down. "I need a bloody drink." The scrapping of the glass on the table grabbed his attention. As did the one who moved it towards him.

" _It's so hard to find good help these days isn't it."_ Carnus leaned back in his chair, a smug look on his wrinkled, aged face.

Landon snatched the glass of scotch. "Understatement." He drank the burning liquid in one gulp before slamming the glass back onto the table. "Now that it's just us girls," he leaned closer to Carnus, "mind telling me why you've been bothering me?"

Carnus looked at him oddly. " _You mean you don't already know?"_ Landon was about to respond, but Carnus cut him off, " _don't worry. If I had busted out of prison, you would have known it."_

"Splendid," Landon closed his eyes and began rubbing his temples, "so your in my blasted head." Carnus tapped his nose, indicating that Landon was right. "Still doesn't answer my question."

Carnus snorted. " _All looks and no brains, as per usual."_ He stood up, getting nose to nose with the demon lord. " _I represent what your slowly becoming. What you keep fighting against. Your more, ugly side."_

The pieces clicked for Landon and he moved away. "Nice try, but That won't happen."

Carnus rolled his head, letting out a loud groan. " _What world are you living in? It ALWAYS happens!"_ Carnus appeared in front of Landon as he tried to walk away. " _Do you think your the only one who ever remembered what it was like to be human? Many have come before you, many after, and each one, in the end, ends up just like me."_ Carnus sneered. " _After all, it's already happening."_

Landon shook his head. "I did what I had to do."

" _You think they'll see it that way?"_

"Michael is killing everyone I've ever said 'hello' to, and if he thinks the Titans are my enemies he's likely to spare them."

Carnus laughed. " _Well nothing says 'true friend' like attempted murder, kidnapping, torture of a child while his big sister is forced to listen. Yeah, your a real pal."_

Landon stalked away from him, talking to the floor as he struggled to reassure himself. "In the end, they'll understand."

" _Assuming Drake is able to piece together the bread crumbs you left?"_

Landon threw up his hands. "Everything is going according to plan, and I don't need you in my head right now!" He moved to a nearby mirror to compose himself. Straightening his suit, running and hand through his hair and checking his teeth. "Now if you excuse me, I have a weapon to build."

Carnus shrugged, " _Go ahead. Make your weapon, exact revenge for Michael using the soul of your 'little bird' against you."_ He plopped down onto a nearby chair, leaned back and put his hands behind his head. " _But I'm not going anywhere."_

Landon eyed him, but chose to ignore him. He didn't have time for self reflection and demons in his mind.

He had some hell to raise.

 **Im excited for next time, cuz ill be introducing a new OC Who has been developed for as long as Drake has. Finally hell get some screen time. Are you looking forward to it? i am.**

 **Review and well see ya next time.**


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